


Walls Are Just Walls (You Are My Home)

by logogram



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Blow Jobs, Famous Harry, Famous/Not-Famous, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hiking, Injury, M/M, Musician Harry, Non-Famous Louis Tomlinson, Pining, Smut, Teacher Louis, harry is closeted at the beginning, the injury is not graphic at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:27:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23900821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/logogram/pseuds/logogram
Summary: After being injured in a hiking accident, musician Harry and his bodyguard are stuck on the trail with no cell service, no supplies, and with nightfall coming. Louis, who’s a wilderness first responder, comes across them, gives first aid, and calls for a rescue.Once the rescue’s over and Harry’s family is there to care for him, Louis doesn’t figure he’ll ever see Harry again, but he does— at the talk shows he and Harry appear on so they can talk about their experience, at the concert Harry invites him to, through all texts and DMs. It’s amazing how well they get along and how much Louis likes him. Could someone like Harry ever return his feelings?
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 92
Kudos: 420
Collections: One Direction Big Bang Round 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The moodboard for this story was created by the wonderful  
> [ponymom-stuff](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/ponymom-stuff) who somehow took exactly what I pictured in my head and put it in visual form. Thank you so much--you've been wonderful to work with! Also, huge thank you to my beta, M, for all of your help! Any remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
> I've taken some liberties with the hours of Mast General Store, the identities of Harry's bodyguards, and also with appearing on talk shows, so please pretend with me. In this story, Louis's mother had cancer, but is now in remission. This isn't a major plot point, but is mentioned.
> 
> The title and Instagram caption at the end of the story are from Amanda Shires’s song “You Are My Home,” which never fails to remind me of Harry and Louis.
> 
> If you'd like to translate, please let me know. Please don't post this story on any other websites.

[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN8WWXL4gYna1E3UMuvzrUIYPVkqXRs00DKYYJaruiH0yENLgFWpvlGXGbROL6uoQ?key=QkFkN3RCd1RKcV9DMk1Yam90S2xvTklYQk9ISmdR&source=ctrlq.org)

Louis’s shirt clung to him. It hadn’t been so bad when he was under the shade of the trees, but now that he’d left their shelter and was hiking across the bald, the heat and humidity were oppressive.

Just a mile to go, and then he’d be at the campsite he and Calvin had found last summer. It was just off the path, tucked away under the trees beside a pretty little brook, and it would be a warm spot to set up his tent for the night. He just had to scramble up a few rocky areas to where the trail flattened out again.

There’d only been one other car in the parking area, the trail was blissfully uncrowded, and in spite of the heat, it was great hiking weather. There was just one more hill to climb, and then he’d be able to drink in the view of a meadow before the brief descent into the campsite.

As he reached the top and rounded the curve, he heard a sound. It was a sort of gasping cry, but not the cry of an animal.

Louis stopped and listened. There it was again, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. “Hello? Is someone there?”

And then he heard it, a little stronger and clear now— “Help!” 

The call came from just below the rocky area off to the side of the trail, down the slope. Looking over, he saw two men below where he was on the ledge, one who had sort of propped himself up against the embankment, and one who was lying flat on his back, arms and legs askew. 

“Hold on, let me find a good footing and I’ll be down in just a second.” The rocks were loose and slid under his feet, and he had to use his hiking poles to keep from slipping. Just beyond the men, he could see a stream, which they’d probably been trying to reach. But the embankment was steep, and given the slipperiness of the rocks, he could easily see how they had fallen.

A look washed over the face of the man who was sitting— his eyebrows, previously knotted in worry, smoothed out, and he took a brief, gasping breath. “Oh, thank god! There’s no service up here and I hadn’t seen anyone the whole time we were hiking, I didn’t think anyone would ever find us.”

He may have been relieved, but Louis wasn't. The man likely had no idea what extracting them would entail. He had to figure that, now that Louis had found them, they’d be off the mountain soon. But Louis knew that the ordeal was just beginning. He put down his pack, took out his first aid kit, and set to work. Grabbing his water bottles, one from each side of his pack, he passed one to the conscious man. He took a sip himself, and pulled his notebook from the first aid kit. 

“Alright, I’m Louis. What are your names?”

“I’m Harry, and he’s Chris.”

“Nice to meet you, Harry, sorry it’s under these circumstances. I’m a wilderness first responder, so let me see what I can do to get you set up and get us all out of here. Tell me— what happened?

“We made it to the top this morning, and then turned around and started heading back down. Chris ran out of water and so when we saw the stream he was going down to refill. He slid on the rocks and fell and I went down to help him and then I slid, too.” Harry let out a shuddering sound, as though he was trying to hold back a sob. 

“I’ve tried calling for help and I can’t get a signal. I think my ankle is broken, so I tried but I couldn’t really get up the bank.” He took another gasping breath, and it felt as though Louis’s heart was being squeezed. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re really here.”

Louis scratched down what Harry had told him in his notebook. “Okay, I need to assess you for injuries. You said you feel like your ankle is broken. I’ll check that out— do you think you have any other injuries? Any bleeding, anywhere that feels sore? Did you hit your head or hurt your neck as you fell?”

Harry said that he hadn’t. He’d slid down on his bottom, catching his leg on a tree root. He’d heard a crack and his ankle had been throbbing ever since. He’d tried to stand, but he couldn’t. 

Flipping a few pages, Louis wrote Chris’s name at the top of the page. “Tell me about Chris’s fall. How did he land, and has he been conscious at all since he fell?”

Chris didn’t have a spinal injury, Harry thought. When he’d fallen, he’d gone down all the way the embankment, feet-first, not slowed down by the root like Harry had been. He hadn’t been unconscious when the fall first happened, Harry said. He’d been semi-alert and talking, though weakly, and Harry thought he had two broken legs. He’d drifted off about a half hour after they’d fallen. 

“Finally, Harry, do you know about how long ago you fell?”

“Um, maybe around 1:45? I remember it was around then when I first tried to call for help.”

Two hours, then. Thank god the longer days of summer would buy them some extra hours of daylight, but he wished he’d found them earlier.

Louis looked Chris over, trying to keep him still in case he did have a spinal injury. He pulled out his sleeping bag, unzipped it, and covered Chris with it. He passed his emergency blanket to Harry, then grabbed his GPS-enabled satellite communication device and the notebook and climbed back up to the top where the trees wouldn’t block the signal. 

As he went, he checked things off in his head. Getting necessary information. Keeping the patients warm. Noting their location. Contacting emergency services. Going back down and giving first aid. Check. Check. Check.

Like a mantra, he repeated it, trying desperately to think of whether there was anything he’d forgotten. Any little thing that Jared and Adam had mentioned in their training courses that could help him now.

An accident like this was always a possibility out in wilderness, but if he was honest, he’d never actually expected it to happen. He’d dutifully gone through the courses, paying attention but never really expecting to have to use the information. Still, he’d always carried the satellite device while hiking, even though it added a little extra weight to his pack. Cell service was just too unreliable to count on in the mountains. You might have a signal in one spot, then it would drop a quarter mile down the trail. 

Back on top of the bald, he triggered the emergency response signal and waited until he got a response from the operator, then relayed the information about Harry’s and Chris’s conditions to them. He checked several times to ensure that they had the correct location for him so that he could be contacted by the search party. 

He set about driving a tent peg with a reflective tape flag into the ground by the path down the embankment, and sent one final message describing the area where the searchers would find them.

Then there was nothing to do but head back down and try to treat Harry and Chris’s injuries as best he could. And break the news to Harry that there was a good chance that the rescue team wouldn’t arrive to evacuate them for quite a few hours. 

When he got back to the bottom, he set a timer on his phone to go off every thirty minutes so that he could monitor and note both men’s conditions— making sure that neither of them had taken a turn for the worse. 

Then it was a flurry of activity until the first timer went off. He started a fire and set up his camp stove to boil some water for tea and some packets of food. He set up the tent for him and Harry, and the rainfly to cover Chris and give him a little more protection. He went down to the creek to get more water to drink, and set it to boil as well. Hydration, shelter, sustenance. Check, check, check.

He gave Harry his down vest, grateful that it was the height of summer. While the temperature would drop when the sun went down, it wouldn’t get below the 60s, so hypothermia wasn’t a big concern. And he was on a multi-day hike, so he’d brought plenty of supplies.

When the timer beeped, Chris had just begun to stir again. Louis introduced himself and cautioned him to stay still so that he didn’t make any injuries he might have any worse. He soaked his handkerchief in water and pressed it to Chris’s lips, fearful that having him try to swallow a sip of water could lead to coughing and further injury. That done, he pulled out his notebook and noted their conditions:

**4:30**

_Harry- no change. Awake and alert. Has had tea and a hot meal. Wearing a down vest. We will be splinting his ankle and moving him into the tent._

_Chris- condition slightly improved. Is now awake and responsive, but only giving short responses. Covered with a sleeping bag. Has had water from a wet handkerchief pressed to the lips. Says he feels pain in the lower legs, near where the breaks appear to be. Has not been moved in case of spinal injuries._

_~4 hours until sunset_

With nothing left to do except for splinting Harry’s broken ankle, Louis set about trying to distract him. “So, Harry, we’re going to have to use my hiking poles to set your ankle, and honestly, it’s going to hurt quite a bit. So while I’m doing this, I need you to try to keep talking to me, okay? Get your mind off it.”

Harry nodded, his voice quavery as he asked, “What do you want me to talk about?” 

“You can tell me what you do, tell me how you ended up here in the US with what’s clearly a northern accent, tell me how you and Chris ended up out here in the woods today. Anything you like.”

As he talked, he tried to make quick work of placing the poles and wrapping them to the ankle with the ace bandage. As Louis went quiet, Harry let out a little gasp of pain, and then took a bracing breath and began speaking.

“Um, I’m a musician, and Chris is one of my bodyguards. We’re in town for a couple weeks because I needed a break from the city and one of my friends has a studio he offered to let me use so I could do some recording. Get away from the hustle and bustle, you know?”

And Louis nodded as though he did know, even though his whole life, living at camp and hiking, was nothing but quiet, with no hustle and bustle to get away from. 

As Louis made the final wrap on Harry’s ankle and secured the bandage, Harry grimaced a bit and continued. “Anyway, I thought I’d record a few songs before I went back on tour. And then today the weather was so nice when we woke up and we decided to go on a hike, and now here we are.”

“So,” Louis said, taking up the cup of tea he’d put down earlier, and ignoring the fact that it had gone a bit cold, “how many bodyguards do you have, if Chris is just one of them?”

At that, Harry smiled, and Louis was flooded with pride for taking Harry’s mind off the pain for a minute. “I have 5 bodyguards, they rotate depending on where I’m going and how many I need at any given time, and so they can have some time off. Chris’s the one who likes to go running with me, so I asked him to go on the hike.” He gestured toward Chris, who seemed to have drifted off again. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Look,” Louis reached out and gave Harry’s shoulder a quick squeeze. “These kinds of things happen, and they can happen even more easily in the wilderness. There’s a reason that there’s a wilderness first responder certification to start with, and there’s a reason that I’m expected to have it as a part of my job. Accidents happen.”

Harry shrugged, and his shoulders hunched a bit. “I mean, I know that, but it doesn’t make me feel any less bad, you know?” He looked at Louis and his gaze turned a bit sharp, as though he was daring Louis to contradict him. 

Louis, having a good amount of common sense, didn’t.

“I don’t think I’ll feel okay until we get Chris out and hopefully find out that it’s just broken legs. Maybe then I’ll actually feel like I can take a full breath, you know?”

“I do, and I hope that when we get out of here, your ankle is fine, and we find out that Chris has nothing more than two broken legs.” Louis checked his watch, and began ticking things off on his fingers. “It’s been nearly an hour since I got in contact with search and rescue, and from the nearest town, the trail is about a half hour drive. Then they have probably thirty minutes to an hour, at least, for the search team to meet at the trailhead, and probably an hour or two to hike up here with all their equipment. So it shouldn’t be all that long before they arrive, and then we’ll be on our way back down.”

Then he took a breath and continued. “That’s if everything goes perfectly. Potentially, we could be looking at times that are double or even triple that. Hopefully that’s not the case, but it’s something to be aware of.” 

Harry watched him, wide-eyed, and for the first time, Louis noticed how beautiful his eyes were. “That’s a long time.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to sound demanding. I know we got ourselves into this situation. Just ignore me.”

“No, look, Harry. Just because you got yourselves into this situation doesn’t mean it’s any less frightening, and you’ve never dealt with a wilderness rescue before, so you really have no idea what to expect.”

Harry nodded. “Can you tell me? Like, what the process will be like? Have you ever done a rescue like this?”

That stopped Louis, gave him pause. He’d given plenty of wilderness first aid, and had participated in a few rescues, but nothing that was quite as dire as the one they were in. Mostly teens who tripped over roots and hurt an arm or twisted an ankle and could walk out on their own, or with a little assistance from the group. 

Once, a friend of his had fallen about 8 feet while bouldering and landed squarely on his ankle, breaking it badly. But then, there’d been no real risk of spinal injury, and the rescue team had arrived quickly and extraction had gone smoothly, since the boulder field was just a little way off a road. That was likely how everything would go with Harry, save the fact that they were a bit further from civilization, but things with Chris were uncertain, and Louis wasn’t sure how much he needed to share with Harry. He wanted to be realistic, but truthfully, he didn’t know Harry, didn’t know what might set him off, and sending him into a panic attack out here where nothing could be done about it didn’t seem like the best course of action.

So, he decided to walk a fine line between the full truth and a completely rosy picture.

“Well, here’s how it will probably go. When the rescue team arrives, they’ll assess both of you. There would probably be enough members to assess both of you at the same time.” He paused, waiting for Harry to absorb what he’d said. 

“Of course, Chris’s in a worse condition, so they’ll try to get him assessed first and then transferred to a litter or stretcher and taken down the mountain. There’s a chance that when they assess his condition, they may determine that carrying him out by hand isn’t for the best, and in that situation, they’d call in a helicopter and evacuate him that way.”

“And what about me?” Harry asked.

“I think that you’ll probably be carried down the mountain. Then obviously we’ll go to the hospital, get your leg set or have surgery, and then get you on your way.”

Harry looked as though he was considering what to say next. “Will you stay with me? Until I’ve gotten to the hospital? I know that Chris needs somebody more, but I just— I just want someone with me.”

Louis reached over and took Harry’s hand. “Of course I’ll stay with you. Right now, Chris wouldn’t even notice that I was there, so you’ve got me as long as you need me.”

The timer went off, and Louis set about his routine. Chris’s vitals were the same as they’d been a half hour earlier, pulse fine, temperature still normal. Harry’s vitals were also good, and he insisted on writing his own summary of his condition on his page in Louis’s notebook.

“So,” Louis said when they’d finished, “let’s try something to get our minds off things for just a bit. Game? Twenty questions? I Spy? Normally I’d have cards, but I left them out this time.”

Harry shrugged and said, “What if we just got to know each other? You’re clearly British too, how did you end up here?”

“Well,” Louis said, “when I was in uni, I studied abroad in the states and for my physical education class, I took a backpacking course and I just became obsessed with hiking. When I got back, I did a number of the big hikes around the UK, then did some in the rest of Europe, but I kept wanting to come back here and hike some of the most famous trails in the states.”

Harry looked intrigued, or at least Louis thought he did, so he continued. “I did the Appalachian Trail, then decided to get my Wilderness First Responder certification, and then I went to the National Outdoor Leadership School, and I’ve managed to get a job as a hiking leader for a camp that elementary students attend during the school year, which I never even knew was a thing.”

“Hiking camp is a real thing? That sounds amazing.” 

Louis hummed thoughtfully. “It is. I had no idea that it was something I could do when I was growing up, and I definitely don’t think it’s something I would have planned to do when I was eighteen— I was going to go into business— but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Just from today, you’re in the right field.” A ghost of a dimple appeared in Harry’s cheek again. “Okay, new topic. Tell me about your family.”

“For the longest time, it was just mum and me, then she remarried and they had my four younger sisters, then they split up, and now she’s remarried and they had twins, too. So yeah, loads of siblings, huge family.”

If he weren’t clearly in pain, Harry might have clapped and cheered, based on the look on his face. “Oh my god, that’s so exciting! Do you spend a lot of time together? It must be hard to be so far away from them. Do you ever take them hiking?”

Louis ticks his answers off on his fingers. “Yeah, I love to spend time with them, although really at this point, it’s mostly on Skype and text and so on. It’s definitely tough to be far away from them, but I try to get back whenever I can, mostly during the summer holiday. And I do take them hiking, both when they come visit me and when I go back home, we tramp around.”

“Actually, I just got back not too long ago from a visit. I made the older four walk Hadrian’s Wall with me.” He smiled at the memory. He’d been lucky that he was able to convince all the girls to leave their makeup at home, let alone come with him on a week-long hike, yet they’d ended up having a blast. He’d even found them, once they’d gotten home, researching other walks around the U.K. that they could do the following summer. 

“I’ve never taken all six of them hiking at the same time, god help me, I think, if that happened. It would definitely be another search and rescue operation, emphasis on the search part. I did take the little ones on a shorter walk, and then we came home and camped in the back garden. Had s’mores and roasted hot dogs, the whole big thing.”

At that, Harry cracked a smile. “You sound like such a good big brother.” 

Then, just like that, he sobered. “I just want you to know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done to help us. I really thought that we weren’t going to be saved, that no one would happen by, and I really didn’t know if I had it in me to to try to get down the mountain on my own. I think I would have, but I was so afraid to leave Chris, and then you came along and it was like an angel showed up.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want us to just sit here and dwell on this. I’m just going to keep circling back around if I don’t pull myself together. Let’s talk about something else. Um, are you dating anyone?”

Louis laughed. “Yeah, dates are really thick on the ground when you’re a year-round camp counselor.” He shook his head. “No, I’m single, have been for a few years. It’s kind of tough to get into a relationship when you’re always out hiking and camping, pretty much doing camp ten months of the year. Doesn’t lend itself well to a relationship, you know?”

Harry’s answering laugh was just tinged with bitterness. “I feel like I know that all too well. That’s what touring is like. It’s easier to find a series of flings than a steady partner, it’s just too hard on the other person and not fair to them. It can be a bit lonely, I guess?”

He let out a sad sigh, and Louis couldn’t help but wrap his arm around Harry’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, it’s not easy, but we’re still young yet, aren’t we? We’ll find someone, and it will be worth it, and we’ll be glad for the experiences we had that led us to them.”

“Yeah,” Harry breathed out a sigh. “Just, it feels like everybody I know is getting married and having babies and here I am, in the woods with a broken ankle and nobody who would have noticed that I was gone.”

Louis could see that Harry was spiraling a bit, that this conversation probably wasn’t helping the situation at all. So he gave his shoulder a squeeze and said, “Change the subject again? Get your mind off it? How’d you end up with 35 bodyguards? Have I ever heard any of your music? What’s your surname?”

“Oh gosh,” Harry said. “Um, well, I was on the X Factor when I was 16 and I got put into a band, a boy band, so you probably heard some of our stuff on the radio if you listen to it.” He listed several songs, some of which sounded familiar. “And now we’re on hiatus, so I’m working on my album now, then I’ll have a tour. Oh, and my surname is Styles.”

He couldn’t help but let out a snort. “Styles? Is that a stage name, or is that your real, actual surname?”

“Heeeeyyy. It’s my real surname, thank you very much.” With his hair all messed up from the slide down the rocks, and with a little pout on his face, he looked like a grumpy little owl. 

Louis was endeared, and he had a feeling that the look on his face was rather sappy, and that meant it was time for a distraction. “So what do you like to do besides music and touring?”

It turned out that Harry had a great many interests— among them were running, fashion, art, and some very interesting sounding literature. But, he said, it was almost as though people forgot that he was a person with all those interests at times, with the celebrity magazines and blogs all focused on his relationships. 

“Like, I want them to see me, you know? But at the same time, it’s safer for me if everyone sees what they see, and I get to save some of it just for me. Like, even just who I’m attracted to. God forbid that anyone find out that I haven’t been attracted to a single one of the women I’ve dated.” 

He blinked rapidly and looked at Louis. “I’m so sorry for unloading all this on you. I mean, you’ve found me in the woods, and you’ve patched me up, and you’re sitting here and just listening to me when I keep going on, and you’ve just been so kind about everything, and I feel awful.”

“Hey. Hey. Don’t think like that, Harry, this isn’t a burden on me, not at all. I’m so happy that I came along and found you. I can’t imagine, don’t even want to imagine not finding you. I genuinely think I was meant to be out here on this day in particular.”

“Yeah, I mean, maybe so. I’m so glad you’re here, it would be awful without you. That’s so weird to say, we’ve known each other literally an hour. I’ve unloaded so much on you, acting like you’re my therapist or something.”

“Hey, Harry, come on. In the situation we’re in, there has to be a certain level of trust between the two of us. This situation,” he paused to gather his thoughts. “I mean, in this situation we have to be totally honest with one another, and what else are we going to do out here but talk?”

A slight smile crossed Harry’s face. “That’s true, but we could also fire up the stove and make another cup of tea. Do we have enough fuel for that?”

Louis reassured him that they did, that he had enough fuel for a week of meals, and after Louis made quick trip to the creek and the water had a few minutes to boil, Harry was clutching the tea like it was a lifeline. 

“Alright, now that tea is done, I have to ask, because I also planned to try out for X Factor in 2010, but traffic was awful and I missed the time to line up. What’s it like to be a musician? I mean, if I’m being too intrusive, tell me, but it was always something I wondered in the back of my mind, and then I went to uni and then started hiking and I never really thought about it again.”

Harry looked as though he was considering how to put it. “Well, there are obviously a lot of parts that I love about it. I love writing music, I love getting up on stage performing and knowing that I had a hand in creating the words that everyone’s singing along to. Especially since that wasn’t really how it was in the band, at least early on.”

He took another sip of his tea and continued. “I love that I get to wear all kinds of beautiful clothes, and support up and coming designers. Especially now that I’m getting ready to do my first solo tour, I’ve got some amazing suits I’m dying to wear. I’d show you some of them, but I’m afraid of running down my battery.”

Louis waved his hand. “Don’t worry about it, love. Just describe your favorite one to me. Save the battery to call your mum when we get off the mountain.”

So Harry did. He described it in detail, the purple suit with all its glitter, the silver lapels, the gold cuffs, and the gold blouse finished with a bow at the neck.

When he’d finished, Louis let out a low whistle. “I’m going to be honest, seeing you here in running shorts and a tee shirt, that isn’t what I’d pictured at all, but it sounds amazing. You’re going to look spectacular.”

Harry smiled for a moment before a look of alarm crossed his face. “I have no idea how I could tour with a broken ankle, or wear these outfits with a cast on. They’re going to have to cut a leg off and do half shorts.” Louis snorted at that image, but then sobered as Harry spoke again.

“And if Chris isn’t okay, I genuinely don’t know how I could possibly go on tour— I think I’d have to cancel it. He wouldn’t have been out here at all if I hadn’t decided I wanted to go for a hike, and so I can’t help but feel like this is all my fault.”

“Harry. Harry, look. Chris’s vitals are stable, he’s been in and out of consciousness. We’ve kept him warm, and the rescue team knows exactly where we are, and they’re on the way. There’s a real possibility that he’ll escape this with nothing more than two broken legs. At the very least, you can’t panic yourself thinking about what-ifs.”

The small sniffle from Harry’s direction told Louis that he’d at least given Harry something to think about. He was just opening his mouth to speak when they both heard it. In the distance was the sound of a helicopter. 

It felt as though everything was happening all at once. Louis started shuffling in his bag before realizing that he’d given Harry the emergency blanket. He reached over to pluck it off him. 

“Sorry, love, I’m going to need to borrow this. I’m going up to the top to signal to them and make sure they don’t miss us. Thank god there’s a good place for them to land if they need to. I’ll be back in a moment.” 

He gave Harry’s shoulder a squeeze and began making his way, gingerly, without his poles this time, back up the slope, careful not to slip up and give search and rescue still a third person to extract.

When he got to the top, the helicopter was making its first pass around the area, so he took the emergency blanket and began waving it, hoping that the glint in the sunlight would make it easier to spot them. A few waves and it was clear that the helicopter had spotted them and was preparing to make its landing. Louis moved to the side and waited, almost feeling as though he was holding his breath. He’d known that some form of help was coming, but to see it here, and to know that they really would be getting out of this situation, was almost too much to handle.

On landing, the helicopter door opened and two medics emerged, carrying bags and laying a spine board on the ground next to the chopper. 

Louis hurried over to them. “Hi, how are you? I’m Louis, I found the hikers and put in the call for rescue.”

As they walked toward the path down to where Harry and Chris lay, Louis answered the paramedics questions about their condition. Yes, Chris had regained consciousness briefly, but wasn’t awake now. No, they hadn’t moved him, and they’d kept him covered and as warm as they could. No, his vitals hadn’t changed since Louis had arrived. Yes, Harry had been conscious the entire time, and they’d splinted his ankle. Yes, Louis had been checking frequently that the splint wasn’t too tight. 

When they reached the bottom, Harry’s eyes were wide, and Louis could see that it was now, when the medical team had arrived with the backboard, that the gravity of the situation was hitting him. 

He could also see the moment when the female paramedic, Kate, recognized Harry. Fortunately, it was just a widening of her eyes before she turned her attention back to Chris. 

“Alright, let me get some information from you and tell you how this process is going to go.”

Harry nodded and she continued. “Since your friend may be suffering a spinal injury, getting him to a trauma hospital is our top priority. The chopper will only be able to accommodate the stretcher, but we have another team hiking up to extract you as we speak.”

She paused and waited for Harry and Louis to acknowledge her, and at their nods, she continued speaking. “When we last spoke with them, they estimated that they were approximately an hour and a half from here, so I’d estimate that they’ll be here in about an hour. We’ll leave you some additional blankets. Do you have access to water?”

When Louis confirmed that they did, she continued. “Let me get some information about your friend. What’s his name?”

“Chris Abernathy.”

“Age?”

“He’s thirty-four.”

“Do you know his date of birth?”

“Oh shoot. Um, December 3, 1985.”

“What about family?”

Harry shuffled with his cell phone. “He’s married. His wife is named Grace.” He rattled off her phone number and Kate noted it.

“And how did the accident occur? Did you see it happen?”

Harry once again recounted how Chris had headed down the embankment to the stream and fallen, breaking both his legs. Louis was able to fill in the details of his vitals signs since then, and tore out the pages with the notes about Chris from his notebook so Kate could take them along. Once they’d established the approximate time the accident occurred, and how long Louis had been on scene tending to them, Kate and the other medic, Carl, began the process of putting a cervical collar on Chris and getting him body-boarded. He stirred a bit when they moved him, which they seemed to take as a positive sign. Then they, along with Louis, began the careful process of carrying him back up the embankment.


	2. Chapter 2

After they’d finally gotten him safely into the helicopter, Louis felt like he could breathe again. Sure, he and Harry were now out here on their own, but another rescue team would be arriving soon, and Chris’s more severe injuries would be treated much faster than if they’d had to carry him down the mountain on a stretcher. Louis knew that, if they’d had to do that, every step he’d have been worried that someone would put their foot down the wrong way and slip, dropping Chris and compounding his injuries.

He took a minute to compose himself, swallowing back the traitorous tears that had risen in his throat, so that he wouldn’t go back down the trail and frighten Harry.

When he got back down, he realized that he needn’t have bothered. Harry had pulled the abandoned sleeping back up over him and was weeping softly into it. 

“Hey. Hey, can I share that with you?” Harry lifted a flap of the sleeping bag and Louis scooted under before Harry let it back down to cover both of them. His crying had eased a bit, but picked up when Louis wrapped an arm around him.

“It’s just scary, you know? Like, he’s been on my bodyguard team since I was 18, he’s always there for me, and seeing him on that bodyboard, all still— I’ve let him down. I’ve never felt so helpless before.”

“Harry, we did everything we could.” Louis spoke firmly, hoping that he sounded believable. Chris is out now, he’s going to the trauma center, and he’ll be getting the best possible medical attention. It sucks, but feeling guilty won’t help right now.” 

Harry sniffled and wiped his eyes on the corner of the sleeping bag. “You’re right. You’re right, just let me get myself together.”

Louis nodded and rubbed his hand up and down Harry’s arm. “Let’s try for another distraction. Do you have any pets?”

Harry sniffled a bit before answering. “I don’t have any pets that live with me, because I travel so much, but my mum has my childhood cat, Dusty, at home and so I see her when I visit, and they have another couple of cats, too. What about you?”

“Me? I’ve got a dog, a big, floppy black thing called Clifford. If I didn’t need to conserve battery power, I’d show you a picture.”

“Oh, doesn’t he like to go hiking?”

“He does, he loves it, but he’s so rambunctious that taking him on multi-day hikes is too exhausting, so he only goes on the day hikes. Right now he’s staying with my friend Oli, which he loves because Oli spoils him. Thank goodness I didn’t bring him today, because I can’t only imagine that he would have made a complete mess of things. Would probably have sat on your ankle or something like that. He’s a menace, that dog.”

At that, Harry’s mouth turned up in a ghost of a smile.

“Louis?”

“Yeah, love?”

“I’m really glad that you were the one who found us. I was trying to psych myself up to go back down the trail when I heard you, and I don’t know if I’d have been able to do it.”

“You would.” Louis hadn’t known Harry long, but somehow he was sure of this. “People are capable of all sorts of things when survival is on the line. I recently read about a trail runner who crawled for ten hours with a broken leg. You could have done it.”

“Have you ever—” he trailed off. “Sorry, I’m being a bit nosy.”

“Hey, it’s no big deal. Yeah, I’ve never gotten hurt hiking, but I did once end up getting off trail.”

That was a time that Louis hadn’t thought about in quite a while, but he had a sort of a feeling that it might make Harry feel better.

“I wasn’t paying attention while I was hiking and I ended up losing the blazes that mark the trail. Just looked up and realized I had to idea where I was.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “What did you do?”

“Set up camp. It was afternoon, so I didn’t want to risk getting further off course going into the night. Then I wrote down everything I remembered since the last time I remembered seeing a blaze. Every detail, every weird tree, so that in the morning, I’d be able to retrace my steps.”

He shivered a bit, remembering. “Luckily, I’d only been following this other path for about a mile, but until I got back on the blazed trail, it was pretty nerve-racking.” He looked Harry in the eye. “Things can go wrong when you’re in the wilderness. I’m an experienced hiker, and I got lost. Sometimes things just happen.”

“That makes me feel a little better,” Harry conceded, but worry was still written on his face.

“Hey. Hey, Harry.” Louis was afraid that if he spoke too firmly, he’d spook Harry, but he knew that he had to get Harry out of his head. “I can tell you’re starting to panic. The search party will be here soon, and they’re going to get us out of here.”

Harry nodded, though his eyes were still a bit wild, and so Louis continued speaking. “They’re going to do everything they can for Chris, and we’re going to take care of you, and the more you freak out, the harder you’re going to make it on yourself.”

“You’re right, like intellectually I know that, but oh my god, this sucks.” 

Louis sighed. “You’re right, love. Come here, have a cuddle and a cry if you want. Go ahead and let it out and then you’ll feel better about things.”

Hearing that, Harry nestled his face against Louis’s chest and the tears came. Louis wrapped his arms around Harry and held him as he cried. It wasn’t long before he’d seemingly cried himself out. 

He looked at Louis, worrying his lip, his eyes very green through the sheen of tears.

“I’m just so afraid.” He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I’m terrified knowing that his wife is going to get a phone call from a stranger telling her that Chris is hurt, when I should be the one there for him, and for her, because I’m the one who got him into this situation.”

“Hey, I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but if you don’t already see a therapist, you might want to consider it when you get back. Otherwise, I think the guilt is going to eat you alive.”

Harry looked thoughtful. “No, I don’t have a therapist, I think with all the traveling and touring I do it would be too hard to coordinate schedules, you know?”

“Well,” Louis said, “I have a kind of a feeling that, what with you being Harry Styles and all, they’d find a way to work with you. Skype, FaceTime, that kind of thing when you can’t get into the office.”

“I mean, I’m sure you’re right. Yeah, yeah, of course.” 

“And, like, not just talking about this, but it can’t be easy to do all the touring that you do, emotionally, you know?”

“Yeah,” Harry sighed. “That’s a really good point. Have you ever…? Never mind, I’m being nosy again. Oh god, I’m really sorry.”

“No, no, don’t feel bad.” He paused, thinking about how to phrase it. “A couple years ago, my mum got cancer, and especially when I couldn’t be over there as much as I wanted, because of cost and vacation days and all that, and it really helped to have someone to talk to about it all. Especially when there were thoughts that she might not make it. It was really hard, but the psychologist helped me with strategies for working through how I was feeling.”

“So, your mum, how is she now?”

“It was really touch and go for quite a long while, and it was so scary and awful, like you could feel the weight of it just pressing down on you. So the therapist kept me from being totally lost to that fog. I’ve never regretted going. Luckily, my mum’s in remission now and doing well.”

The thoughtful look was back on Harry’s face, and it was very obvious that he had a lot of questions, and that he was thinking about how to phrase them.

“You know, um, I think beyond just this and the touring, I think it would be worthwhile to talk to someone.” He paused at that, and Louis tried to remain still as possible, so he wouldn’t spook him.

“It’s just that. Oh gosh, this is really hard to say. I don’t know why, you’re not even the first person I’ve told. It’s just that I’m gay, and doing the job I do, that’s not really something that I can be open about, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to about how to deal with it.”

“Oh,” Louis said, feeling quite stupid, although he couldn’t say why. “Thank you for telling me. I’m gay myself, and I know it’s a big thing trying to decide if you can trust someone enough to tell them, so thank you for trusting me.”

Harry took a deep breath. “I know that my manager and agent and label would all be so furious that I told anybody who wasn’t under a strict NDA, like all of my family and friends are, but I figure that I’ve been trusting you with my life, and with Chris’s, for hours, and what reason do I have to hold it back?”

He paused before continuing. “Something like this really makes you re-evaluate, you know? Like, what if you hadn’t come along, and nobody else had? What if I died and people didn’t know who I really was?”

“Hmm. I can see that. Isn’t that such a big part of what it is to be human? You just want people to see who you really are.”

At that, Harry lifted his head, and there was a sort of fierce tilt to his chin. “Yes, that’s it exactly. I’m tired of having to keep parts of me hidden away.”

“Yeah, it’s important. You don’t have to share everything, but you don’t want to hide who you are.”

They sat for a moment, letting the silence envelope them. After a time, Louis spoke again. “So you said that you’ve been hinting at it? Do you feel like your fans have an idea of it?”

“I do, and that’s one of the worst things. My fans are, like, split into factions. There are the ones who feel like they’ve picked up on the signals, they bring pride flags to shows, they donate to LGBT+ charities in my name, and then of course they ship me with like every guy I interact with. And then there are the ones who think that I’m straight and that all the PR relationships are real and that the other side is delusional. And they bicker all the time. And then my management is always breathing down my throat not to let a hint of it out.”

He cleared his throat before continuing. “I’m not trying to sound ungrateful at all. Like, not in any way. I don’t blame the fans, they’re just going based on what they’ve been told, the ones who think I’m straight. It’s management. They’re the real problem.”

“And they’ve actually told you that you can’t be out?”

“Yeah.” It was clear that he wasn’t used to talking about it, and Louis thought again how much he needed to talk to an actual professional, and not just Louis, the random guy who found him with a broken ankle on the side of a mountain trail.

“Louis?”

“Yes, love?”

“Do you think it’s true that my fans would hate me if I was out?” His voice as he asked was small.

“No, no I don’t think that at all.” He paused to consider his next words carefully. “Some probably would. But not all of them, surely, not even most of them. Has someone told you that they would?”

Harry, too, seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “Well, my management, former management, they always said that any girl needed to believe we could end up together, so that’s why they always made sure I was dating a bunch of different girls. Up and coming models, actresses, singers, influencers. Did you know that I dated Taylor Swift for a couple weeks?”

He was almost able to hold himself back, but then Louis found himself humming “I Knew You Were Trouble” under his breath. 

Harry snickered and gave him a little shove. “I’m offended that you can hum Taylor Swift on command but you hadn’t heard of me.”

Louis shrugged. “She’s Taylor Swift, Harry, I don’t make the rules here. So back to your fake dating life. How’d they make you date all these women?”

“Contracts.” Harry sounded far too cavalier about it, but Louis supposed he’d had a bit of time to get used to it. “I made the mistake of telling Simon Cowell I was gay when I was 17, and from then on, it was one relationship after another.”

“Oh, Simon Cowell’s always seemed awful, you could have just said his name at the beginning and I wouldn’t have questioned you at all.”

“Yeah, being in the industry really shows you who you can and can’t trust. I’m just so frustrated that he’s taken away me chances to be who I really am.”

“Hey— you are who you. It doesn’t matter what he does, he can’t take that from you. You’re still Harry, and you should be happy, and you should be proud, because no one can take that away from you, not really.”

Harry’s watery smile wasn’t quite as confident as Louis would have liked, but he guessed that about ten years of being told that you shouldn’t be who you really are was enough to knock anybody’s confidence a bit. 

“I think this whole situation might even put me in a better spot to negotiate, you know?”

Louis, not knowing the intricacies of the entertainment business, didn’t know. “Oh? How do you reckon?”

“Well,” Harry said, looking a little shrewd, but also more hopeful than Louis had seen him before, “this is the kind of thing that changes you. It’s made me realize that life is too short not to live truthfully. Did you know that I’ve never even had a boyfriend, for fear that it might get out, and because I wouldn’t want to put someone in that position of having to lie? And I’ve only ever slept with a few guys, but all the tabloids talk about how I slept with 400 women in one year, or I dated this model for 3 weeks and then dumped her, when in reality, I was a virgin until I was 20.” 

At this point, he was so riled up that Louis was afraid to interrupt and break his chain of thought. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend the rest of my twenties and my thirties, the time when I could be settling down and starting a family, pretending to date someone because Simon Cowell thinks that it will make him a few extra pounds.”

And this is when the smile on Harry’s face went a little wild. “So when I get out of here and out of the hospital, I’m calling them, and I’m telling them that they have a choice— they can either formulate a plan to help me come out, or I’m going to make out with a guy in the middle of New York, or LA, or something, until it gets picked up by the papers. I’m not going to let them keep doing this to me.”

“Okay, I’m not trying to tell you what to do, not at all.”

Seeing the sharp look on Harry’s face, Louis almost decided to stop speaking, but no, this was something that he felt he needed to say. “You’ve gone through a real trauma. I know that you’re ready to be out, and obviously I support that, but maybe you shouldn’t be hasty about it—?”

Harry’s intake of breath was quick and sharp. “What do you mean?”

Louis tightened his arm around Harry. “Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t come out, and that you shouldn’t be allowed to do it in the time frame you want. But when you’ve had a shock like you have today, that’s not the best time to make that kind of decision. That’s all I mean.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He grew quiet at that, and Louis didn’t know what to say, or even if he should say anything at all, and so he didn’t.

Just when the silence had started to become a bit stifling, Harry spoke.

“Hey, Louis? I know I keep changing the subject, but can you tell me what the camp you work at is like? It sounds like it would be a lot of fun.”

“Alright, well, each week, we have between one and three groups of students. They’re anywhere from fourth to tenth grade. Each of us has a different role, and we create a program for that week based on their curriculum. For me, I do a lot with the science side of things when we’re out hiking, but I also do a lot of the camping and orienteering skills.”

When Harry’s eyes hadn’t glazed over, he continued. “The kids stay in cabins with their chaperones for three of the four nights, and then, after we’ve spent those three days learning about the hiking and camping skills, we all go on a short overnight backpacking trip, so they get to practice the skills. Then in the morning we pack up, head back to the camp, and they finish up their classes for the week before going home.”

“Oh wow, that sounds incredible. Do the kids like it?”

“You know, it’s different with each age group. The fourth and fifth graders are almost always super excited from the start. Then the seventh and eight graders always act like we’re trying to murder them at the start of the week, but then by the end, they’re having the time of their lives. Sixth, ninth and tenth are more just go with the flow. But regardless, it’s really rare to see that the kids are having a bad time.”

“So do you take them on the backpacking trip even if the weather’s bad? What kind of food do you have at camp? Where do you guys live?”

Louis laughed. “Hey, hey, hey, slow down. One thing at a time! We do take them on the backpacking trip most of the time, unless the conditions will be dangerous, and then obviously we wouldn’t go. If it’s rainy, then that’s okay, we still go. Their tents will protect them, and at the campsite, we have a large pavilion where we’re able to eat our meals and have camp fires, so they’re not huddled away in the tent all night. 

“If there’s a thunderstorm and lightning, we wouldn’t take the risk, and instead we’d use Thursday afternoon and evening to do the Friday activities, then do a day hike with lunch on Friday. Likewise, if it’s dangerously cold, we also wouldn’t go then, either.”

He paused, thinking. “What was your next question? Food? Yeah, we have a cafeteria, do family-style meals for most of the week, then the kids cook hot dogs and s’mores on the backpacking trip, or we have a few other options for the ones who have dietary restrictions.” 

The thought of Thursday camp out made him smile. “That’s actually the best part of the week, camp out night. You’ve never seen kids happier than when they get to cook food over a fire after they’ve hiked four miles.”

“Okay,” he ticked off on his fingers, “backpacking trip, food, what else? Um, where do we live? There are actually cabins on the grounds where we sleep. Since the schools bring their own chaperones, we don’t have to stay in the cabins, although sometimes we do if they have a last minute chaperone cancellation or something like that. Right now, I share a cabin with three other guys, but like, if I got married, there are family cabins, but then there is a supplemental cost.”

“Oh! But imagine how fun it would be for kids to grow up there!” Harry’s eyes were shining far more than you’d expect from someone who had a broken ankle and had, until about three hours before, been lost in the woods.

“Anyway,” he continued, “what about funding? That kind of thing can’t come cheap.”

Louis shrugged. He wasn’t the funding man, not at all, but he knew a bit. They relied partly on funding from the state, partly on donations, and partly on the fees the children paid for the week-long trip. 

Still, they had to be quite cautious about keeping all their costs within a strict budget. Truthfully, some of the backpacks the children used and a few of their tents could use replacing, but it wasn’t in the budget, so he spent many a Friday afternoon, once the groups left, doing repair work. He told Harry all this and Harry sat listening, a thoughtful expression on his face. 

“Now,” he said, “tell me— have you ever had someone at camp do what I’ve done?”

“You know, the worst we’ve had actually was a broken arm, and that wasn’t even while hiking. The kids were playing hide and seek at night before going to bed and one of them ran smack into a tree, arm first.”

“I’m really very cautious about safety procedures, and hiking safely, and so that’s what I try to drive home to the students from the very beginning— hiking can be safe, if you have the correct tools and follow some basic safety procedures, but it can also be quite dangerous if you don’t.”

A brief look—of guilt? contrition?—flashed across Harry’s face. “When I get out of the hospital, you’ll have to let me take you out to lunch, and you can tell me how to be safe when hiking.”

“Only if we can get tacos, love. Give me tacos and I’ll give you a list of everything you should bring when you’re hiking.”

Harry’s dimples cut so, so far into his cheek. 

Just as it looked as though Harry was about to respond, they heard a shout, and the sound of a group coming up the mountain. Louis, once again, left their little camp to scramble up the hill, where he was greeted by the sight of the rescue team. 

It was a group of eight, four of whom were carrying a stretcher between them, with four behind the rest of the group, carrying their medical equipment. Louis had genuinely never been happier to see any group of people before in his life.

From there, everything was a whirlwind, even more than when the helicopter had come for Chris. This time, none of the search and rescue team seemed to recognize Harry at all, and, as he was conscious, they directed all their questions to him this time. 

Louis was left to pack up the tent and what was left of camp. He made a couple of trips down to the stream for water to put out the fire. He tore the pages from his notebook to give to the paramedics for their records. He made one more trip down to the stream to get water for the trip back, treating it with an iodine tablet this time. 

No amount of puttering could change the fact that they were headed back down the mountain, and that there was no chance that someone like Harry would give him the time of day when they made it back into civilization, and that there was no reason that should leave him with an empty sort of an ache in his stomach.

“Louis?” Harry called from his place on the stretcher.

“Yes?”

“Will you ride with me in the ambulance? I can make sure that someone comes up to pick up your car.”

The look on Harry’s face was one of cautious hope, and Louis couldn’t help but say yes. “Of course. You have me for as long as you need me.” 

Hiking back down, he knew, would be no picnic. Even with Harry’s ankle in the field splint, moving him on the stretcher would jar his leg and be quite painful, but there was nothing to be done for it. So, knowing that, he’d be beside Harry every step of the way.

The walk down was much quieter, with very little noise, save the occasional sharp intake of breath from Harry as they went over rough terrain that caused his stretcher to be jostled. Truth be told, he was handling the pain much better than Louis would have, and he told him so.

Harry gave him a watery smile. “I’m just trying not to dwell. Louis, when we get back to somewhere where there’s cell reception, will you keep in touch with my mum and my sister, and Chris’s wife and my manager? If I have to have surgery, I want someone to have my phone and be able to keep people up to date. You don’t have to, if it’s an imposition, just say.”

“Harry,” Louis said slowly, “I was heading into the wilderness for a week-long hike. I literally have nowhere else that I need to be for an entire week. Genuinely, you have me at your beck and call.”

“Good.” Harry was much firmer now than he had been before. “In that case, I’ll need you to spoon feed me lime Jell-o.”

Louis laughed. “It’s a deal, but only if you share. I never get lime Jell-o, the cafeteria only serves cherry.”

Altogether sooner than he expected, they were back at the parking area, where an ambulance and a search and rescue truck waited for them. As they loaded Harry into the ambulance, one of the team tried to shuffle Louis off to the truck. At this, Harry became as fierce as Louis had seen him in their admittedly short acquaintance, and shortly he found himself climbing into the ambulance beside Harry.

Once in the ambulance, Harry paid particularly close attention to the activity of the medics. It turned out that he had never broken a bone before—indeed, never been to the hospital because of his own illness or injury, and so he was a very curious patient. 

He asked plenty of questions— not to the point of being annoying, Louis thought, though the paramedics might have disagreed— and it was actually rather endearing.

Every few minutes, he turned his attention away from the paramedics to ask Louis if his cell phone had service yet. After about a quarter of an hour, service returned, and, with permission from the paramedics, he called his mother. 

The conversation was, of course, one sided in terms of what Louis could hear, but it was clear that Harry’s mother had quite a lot of opinions about Harry’s decision to go hiking, and about how soon she could get on the plane to come see him. From what Louis gathered, Harry had better call his manager, Jeff, the second that he hung up with her so that Jeff could get her on a flight as soon as possible.

The conversation with Jeff was much more brief. He let Jeff know what had happened, and told him to go ahead and purchase plane tickets for his mother, his sister, his father and stepfather, and Chris’s wife, Grace. “Once I’ve talked to her, I’ll let you know whether she’s bringing anyone with her. Make sure they’re all in business or first class, please.” He listed off all their phone numbers so that Jeff could contact them, and said goodbye.

He hung up, then heaved a huge sigh and pulled up the contact for Chris’s wife. “Hi, Grace, this is Harry.”

Based on the conversation, it was clear that someone, either the paramedics or the hospital, had called Grace, and she seemed to know just as much about Chris’s condition as Harry and Louis did. From what she said, it appeared that his condition was unchanged, and that he’d made it to the hospital and was currently in surgery. 

Harry reassured her that his manager was buying her airline ticket, as well as one for Chris’s mother, who would be coming with her, and that he or Jeff would be in touch soon to make sure that she had all the information that she needed. “You have a passport, don’t you? Chris told me about your trip to Ibiza last year.”

She confirmed that she did have a passport, and that it was still valid, and they hung up. 

Then, after all the calls were over, Harry sat back on his stretcher, looking very small and very, very young. Louis wanted to give him a cuddle and comfort him a bit, before he remembered that they’d just met earlier that day, and that probably wasn’t the kind of desire that he should be giving in to. 

As they pulled into the emergency department at Mission Hospital, Harry passed Louis his cell phone and his wallet, saying that even if he just had his ankle set and didn’t need surgery, that he’d be more comfortable with Louis responsible for his things.

Then they wheeled him inside, Louis trailing behind, and to a curtained room. 

They’d been there for a very short while when a nurse bustled in. She took Harry’s vitals and information about his accident and, with Louis’s help, got him into a hospital gown. 

While they waited, Harry fiddled around on his phone, opening and closing apps and pulling up his texts and scrolling through conversations without typing. After the fifth time he’d opened his camera, he looked at Louis. “Want to take a picture together? Commemorate the day you saved me?”

Louis rolled his eyes, but it didn’t stop him from scooting over to the side of Harry’s bed, rustling his hair before leaning in for Harry to snap a photo of them.

He knew Harry was trying to take his mind off things, that he wished he could be talking to his mom, or to his sister, father, and step-father, who were all packing their things so that they could come to the hospital to see Harry, and who therefore didn’t have time to talk.

It wasn’t long before the doctor arrived, and Louis could see her eyes flicker over Harry’s face ever so quickly. She looked about the age to have teen daughters, and Louis was betting that she knew exactly who Harry was. Still, Harry introduced himself and Louis, saying, “And this is Louis. He’s the one who rescued me!” 

Dr. Thomas shook both their hands and sat down, clearly ready to get down to business. “Mr. Styles,” she said, flipping through his chart, “let’s check out this leg and do a few other assessments, and then we’ll know what, if any, other tests we need to run.”

After a quick examination of his leg, she pronounced him ready to head off to radiology to be x-rayed. It was then, as an orderly prepared to wheel him out of the room, that Harry asked Louis to go check and see what, if anything, he could find out about Chris, so that they could keep themselves and Grace up to date.

Louis wasn’t surprised to learn that HIPAA laws prevented the hospital staff from telling him anything at all about Chris’s situation, but he did find out that when Chris was out of surgery, he’d be allowed to go sit with him in his room.

By the time he’d found out about Chris, he figured that Harry would soon be back from his x-ray, so he headed back to Harry’s little emergency room bay so that he’d had someone to sit with him.

But when he got back, Harry hadn’t arrived yet, so he figured he had a minute to call his mum. Thank goodness it was Saturday, so even though it would be late in Doncaster, she wouldn’t likely be asleep.

When she answered, Louis got out a, “Hi, Mum,” before his voice broke. 

Immediately, Jay leapt into concerned mother mode. “Louis? Darling, what’s wrong?” 

Then she listened as the whole story poured out of him. How he found Harry, how he’d feared that Chris was going to die, how— even though he’d had all the training with the expectation that he might need to use it someday— how stressful the whole situation had been. How he felt as though he needed to stay in the hospital until their families arrived. How gorgeous Harry was, how friendly and kind, even lying down an embankment with a broken ankle. 

“Oh!” Jay said, much more knowingly than Louis would have liked. “Oh, I see…” her voice trailed off, and was she being suggestive?

“Mum,” Louis said, as sternly as he would with a camper who was acting silly during a lesson.

“Oh, alright,’ she huffed a little, but then brought it back around to what had happened. “Louis, darling, it sounds like you did a wonderful job. I can’t imagine how grateful Harry must have been, and his bodyguard will be when he wakes up. Thank goodness you decided to take that trail. I know you’d mentioned trying to decide between two different ones.”

“I know. God, I know.” He let out a breath and continued. “I better go back and check to see whether they’ve brought Harry back from his x-ray. I just wanted you to know about it in case it somehow ends up in the papers so you don’t end up surprised. Hopefully nothing will come of it.” 

Jay asked him to pass her good wishes on to both Harry and Chris, when he finally woke up. Then she reminded him that, as he was there, staying with Harry and watching after him, he needed to also take care of himself, and that he should probably take this opportunity to head down to the cafeteria to grab some food. How she managed to sound that stern over the phone was a real mystery to Louis. He wondered if he’d be able to pull it off when he became a parent. But then he put that line of thinking behind him. He hung up with his mother before heading down to the cafeteria.


	3. Chapter 3

**Eight Days Later**

Louis’s phone was ringing. It was five o’clock in the morning on a day he didn’t have to work, and he couldn’t imagine who would have the audacity to call him at this time of day. He rolled over and peered at his phone. It wasn’t any of the camp directors or lead teachers, or anyone else he had in his contacts list.

“Fucking robocalls,” he muttered, muting the phone and shoving it under his pillow. “What kind of fucking scammer calls this early?” 

He rolled back over, shoved his face in his pillow, and tried to drift back off when he heard the ding of an incoming voicemail. At this rate, he’d never get back to sleep, and for all he knew, it could be important. He dug the phone out from under his pillow and jabbed at the voicemail, determined to give whoever it was a piece of his mind if it was a call he needed to return.

“Hi Louis! This is Harry Styles. You, um, you rescued me and my bodyguard the other day? On the hiking trail? Anyway, I wanted to thank you and so I got your number from my mom, because you called her when I was in the hospital, so, um, thanks again. I would love to send you a thank you gift if you wanted to give me your address. I mean, I could have probably figured out your address myself and sent something, but I feel like that would be creepy and I don’t want to creep you out, so I decided not to do that.” He paused and drew in a breath.

“Also, and I hope this isn’t weird either, but I’m doing promo for my album that’s being released, but also some of the morning and late night shows have heard about the whole rescue situation and they were wondering if you might want to join us on the shows to talk about rescuing me and also hiking safety tips. Anyway, give me a call back and let me know if you’re interested in doing that. I know you said that it was your summer break still, and I’m not sure if you have anything else going on, but I’d love to see you again and I’d love it if you joined me. Also, I wanted to invite you to one of my shows if you want. So my number is 555-623-9324. Just call me if you get a chance? Okay, bye! Thanks again!”

God, Harry was chipper for this time of day. Well, now Louis was fully awake, so he might as well give Harry a call back.

He pressed the return call button on his phone. It was almost surreal that a couple weeks ago, he hadn’t even known that Harry existed, and now he was returning the call of someone he’d seen on the cover of several gossip magazines when he went grocery shopping this week. 

“Louis! Hi! Thanks for calling me back so quickly!”

“Well, Harold, I have to say that you sound like you’re doing a whole lot better than you were the last time I saw you.”

Harry laughed and Louis could practically see the dimple pressing itself into his cheek. “Well, I’m not on the side of a mountain, and an ankle in a boot hurts a lot less than an ankle held in place by hiking poles and a t-shirt. No offense.”

“None taken, I promise. How’s Chris doing? I wanted to know at the hospital, same with you, but then because I wasn’t related to either of you, I got booted to the waiting rooms—even though they’d said earlier— well anyway, I didn’t want to intrude when your families arrived, so after I spoke with your mum and knew she was on her way, I ended up just going ahead and leaving.”

“Oh, he’s actually doing surprisingly well. Luckily, he didn’t have any spinal or head injuries, but both of his legs were broken. He’ll be out of commission for quite a while, the doctors say, but I’ve got his family set up and they should be fine. Then he’ll be able to decide whether or not he’s going to come back as a bodyguard or try some other job, or possibly come work with me in some other capacity, which would be great. I’d hate to lose him.” 

Then Harry hummed a bit, to himself, as if thinking about what to say. “Lou, there is something that I called to talk to you about. Like I mentioned in my voicemail? Do you think you might want to go on some of the late night shows with me? Kind of explain what happened, give some safety tips, talk about how to avoid that kind of thing?”

Even back in his younger years, when he’d thought about trying out for the X Factor and about being famous and being a guest on those shows, he’d never truly imagined himself there. And least of all to talk about hiking safety tips.

But the chance to spend a couple hours hanging out with Harry, and talking about the same information he did in all his classes? Count him in.

“Louis?”

“Oh. Oh, yes, I’d love to join you. Like, do I need to make notes? Are there any specific topics I need to talk about? I could just pull from my class information if you wanted, and…”

At that, Harry cut him off with a chuckle. “Just the basics, I think. What you should take with you, how to keep yourself safe, what to do in an emergency. Maybe what I did wrong? Nothing out of the ordinary. And the hosts will be asking you questions, so as long as you know enough to answer them, you’ll be fine.” 

“Yeah, sure. That actually sounds perfect. Hiking safety is something I can talk about for ages, just ask any of my friends.”

When Harry answered, Louis could hear the smile in his voice. “That’s awesome. Thanks so much, Louis! My manager will call you and give you all the information that you need— which shows, flight information, hotel information, what exactly they’ll ask you.” He paused. “And Louis? I’m really excited to see you again.”

“Me too, Harry. See you soon.”

**Three Days Later**

Louis had been to New York before. Several times, as a matter of fact. But he’d never been to New York like this before, and it had started with his flight. Normally when he flew, he’d drive to Charlotte or Knoxville for a cheaper flight, and he sure wouldn’t have been in business class. There’s a good chance he’d have chosen the cheapest fare, one that only allowed him a personal item, as well. 

This time, Harry’s manager had gotten him a flight out of Asheville, business class, and he’d been able to check his bag instead of trying to drag it onto the plane. Just when he thought that things couldn’t be any better, he’d arrived in the baggage claim area, grabbed his suitcase and was ready join the cab stand line, when he was approached by a uniformed driver holding a sign that read, “Tomlinson.”

As the driver led him to the town car, his phone buzzed with a message that he saw, when he sat down, was from Harry. “Hi Louis! Glad you’re here, I’ll be busy today, but I’ll try to catch up with you later this evening, if you have time.”

Considering that he was here on Harry’s dime, riding in probably the most luxurious car he’d ever been in (it beat his own beat-up Toyota by miles), he’d have found time for Harry regardless of anything else he might want to do.

As it was, he shot Harry a quick message back. “Sure! I think I’ll grab some Chinese tonight and I’d love it if you were able to join me.”

Today was apparently going to be even more full of surprises, because Harry answered right away. “Sounds amazing! Where are we going? Or ordering in?”

Smiling at Harry’s enthusiasm, Louis thought back to the restaurants his cousin had taken him to when he’d visited while they were both studying abroad. 

“I was thinking Mei Li Wah for pork buns, then Joe’s Shanghai to get soup dumplings. Maybe some sesame noodles and scallion pancakes too. Does that sound okay?”

“Pork buns then a full meal?”

“Shut up, Styles, the pork buns are an appetizer. I carried you down a mountain last week, I need my energy.”

Harry responded with a little Bitmoji Harry, surrounded by monkeys and bananas with a banner across the top that read, “Thanks a bunch!”

Louis snorted and sent back, “Haha, see you tonight. Will probably wander around a bit after I’ve dropped my things off at the hotel. Meet you there? There’s a park near the restaurant where we can meet if you want?”

He got back two thumbs up and a promise that Harry would call when he finished with what he was doing this afternoon, probably around 5:30. It came through right as the car pulled up to the hotel, which, as everything else that day had been, was fancier than anywhere he’d ever stayed.

He couldn’t lie, it felt a bit awkward. He was so used to doing everything for himself. When he hiked, he carried what he needed on his back. It wasn’t as though he was the messiest person in the world, having had to get organized when he began backpacking and had to keep track of everything in his pack, but everything here felt a little too pristine, a little too perfect. 

The bellhop in the starched uniform who insisted on bringing his luggage up (thank goodness he’d brought the suitcase Lottie had given him instead of his old, worn-in backpack) had been really pleasant, but he’d definitely given Louis a look as though he didn’t quite belong here. And Louis couldn’t necessarily say he was wrong. 

On the other hand, as long as he was here, he might as well enjoy it, while Harry still felt like he owed Louis. 

Not take advantage, mind you. Just have a good time in a situation that he knew he’d never find himself in again. 

And on that note, he thought, might as well not waste time. Looking at his phone he saw that it was about three and a half miles from his hotel, the St. Regis, to the restaurant in Chinatown. An easy walk, he thought, and the weather was gorgeous— way too gorgeous to stay cooped up on a train or in a cab. 

Walking down Fifth Avenue, he passed by Radio City, the Empire State Building, and had almost made it to the Flatiron Building when he decided to stop into Eataly to grab a quick bite for lunch, and ended up at the stand outside in the plaza with a pizza and some gelato, watching the people pass by. 

Then he was off on a quick detour to REI, Patagonia, and Muji in Soho. Sure, there was an REI in Asheville, but when he had time off from work, he’d much rather be out on a hike than shopping for gear and clothes, so no time like the present to pick up some replacements for clothing and socks that were getting worn out, and to pick up a backup sewing kit for his daypack. 

With his bags of shopping, he set off down Canal Street, and soon found himself wandering through Chinatown. It was one of his favorite places to visit in the city. The hustle of residents and tourists, the vibrant signs and narrow streets, and the music that sometimes floated out from a restaurant or store or park.

It wasn’t long before he found himself in Columbus Park, around the corner from Joe’s. He settled onto a bench near the musicians. The distinctive sound of the ehru— the Chinese violin— rang in his ears, along with singing and the chatter of people playing mahjong and checkers.

He felt like he’d been there no time at all before someone dropped onto the bench beside him. When he turned, it was to see Harry, a dimple pressed into his cheek and a walking boot-type cast on his foot.

“Thought I might find you here, when you mentioned a park.”

“Oh?” Louis raised his eyebrow. “And what if I hadn’t been?”

“Well,” Harry said, “I guess I’d have had my driver drop me off and then I’d have called you and waited for you to turn up, or sent the car to get you.”

Then Louis looked at his watch and saw that it was only 4:30; he was surprised at how early Harry had been for their meeting, and he said so.

“Yeah, I convinced my manager that strictly speaking, they didn’t need me for the meetings, so they let me go a little early. I guess it didn’t hurt that I offered to bring Jeff some pork buns. I’m not above a little bribery, you know?” He grinned, and Louis couldn’t help but grin back at him.  
“So?” Harry said. “Pork buns first or soup dumplings first?”

“Pork buns!” It came out way more decisively than Louis had intended. “Pork buns, because if we go to the restaurant first, we’ll be way too full and then we won’t want to eat any pork buns and that would be completely unfortunate. Have you ever had pork buns, Harry?”

Harry looked thoughtful. “Well, I’ve only been to mainland China once, and I haven’t spent much time at all in Chinatown, so I don’t think I’ve had a pork bun.”

“You don’t think? You don’t think? Trust me, if you’d had one of these pork buns, you’d absolutely remember it. They’re a revelation, Harry. A revelation.”

“Wow, Louis, don’t undersell them or anything. You’d almost make me think you thought they were just okay.”

Louis gave his shoulder a little shove as they stood to walk to the bakery and Harry grinned at him.

They were given a return time at Joe’s of 30 minutes, and Louis tucked the slip with their number on it in his pocket before leading them around the corner to Mei Li Wah. 

There, he had to talk Harry out of getting three pork buns apiece. “Look, Harry, I can’t tell you how important it is to me to have cold noodles at Joe’s, and if I have three pork buns, there’s no way, so you’ll just have to get them to go.”

Harry grumbled, but he ended up ordering a dozen buns to go, plus one for each of them. He suggested, then, that they find a place to sit and eat them, but Louis held firm.

“If you’re going to eat a pork bun, Harry, you’re going to eat it standing up in the street like the rest of us.”

So they did, and then Louis pointed out all the people who were taking photos of their pork buns to post on Instagram, and there was no way he could pass up this opportunity.  
“I dare you to sneak into someone’s photo.”

Just when it seemed that Harry might say no, he squared his shoulders, looked at Louis, and said, “Fine, but after I do it, we’re running away.”

So Louis picked his target, a young woman in her early twenties, and just as she’d aligned her picture, Harry sidled into the frame, stuck out his tongue, and opened his eyes wide. Then he sprinted away— or rather, shuffled away as quick as he could while wearing a boot— grabbing Louis by the elbow and dragging him along. Behind them, Louis heard a surprised shriek. He could only guess that the woman had noticed Harry’s face in the frame when she looked back before posting. 

When they rounded the corner to Joe’s Shanghai, the hostess was just calling their number.

“We cut that one, close, didn’t we?” Harry murmured as they followed her to their table, an eight-top shared with a middle-aged couple and a group of college students.

Luckily, none of their table-mates seemed to recognize Harry, but still, they kept their conversation light, just in case.

Just when they’d finished dinner and stepped outside the restaurant, Louis’s phone rang. He saw that it was Jeff, Harry’s manager, whose number he’d saved when Jeff had called previously to tell him about flight arrangements.

So Harry packed him off into a taxi, telling him he’d see him the next morning, so that he could go over what he’d need to talk about on the show the next morning.

**The Next Day**

Louis had had no idea that being interviewed for a TV show would be so involved. He should have known, he supposed, after Jeff called him (and after an email exchange with a producer), but there was still so much more to it than he had expected.

They had to be there hours before the show started. Between hiking and teaching, he was used to rising early, but this was a new kind of early. First they had to get to the studio. Harry insisted on swinging by the hotel and picking Louis up, even though Louis promised that he didn’t need to go out of his way, and even though the hotel was just a few blocks away from Rockefeller Center, where the Today Show was filmed. 

Then they were off to wardrobe to make sure that the clothes that Louis had brought were acceptable for the show. The producer had told him that his teaching clothes would be fine, but Louis wasn’t at all sure they really meant that, so he’d made sure that he brought several options. The stylist ended up putting him in a Columbia button-up and the only pair of hiking pants he had that weren’t zip-offs. Then she’d spotted the vest he’d come in wearing for the morning chill, and she’d had him put that back on, declaring that it made him look “rugged and handsome.”

After that it was makeup, and apparently Harry had already had his done, because he came in and sat in the chair across from Louis, twirling and chatting with him.

He made a big production of telling the makeup artist about pork buns and their walk through Chinatown, and how brave Louis had been to have saved Harry’s life. 

With both of them ready to go, they were shuffled off to a room off the side of the studio set where Jeff was waiting for them. As soon as they sat down, Jeff launched into a series of reminders of the questions Louis might be asked, of how to address the hosts, where to look, how to sit. 

Finally, finally, a production assistant came to retrieve them, and Harry put his hand gently on Louis’s back to guide him along. He wasn’t sure how Harry knew that he was absolutely bricking it, but he appreciated the gesture more than he could have said.

They sat down on the couch, surrounded on both sides by the hosts, with Savannah Guthrie in the position beside them. The producer had told Louis that she’d be leading the interview, with the other hosts joining in. 

“Harry, Louis, hi. Thanks for joining us this morning.” Savannah said.

“Thanks for having us.” Harry was all charm, and Louis couldn’t say how happy he was to have him there, with all his experience with interviews. He imagined that he might be feeling a fraction of the relief that Harry had felt when Louis had arrived after his fall.

“So, Harry, you’ve really had quite an eventful few weeks. Tell me about your hiking accident.”

“Well,” Harry began, “about two weeks ago, my bodyguard and I were in the mountains of North Carolina, in this city called Asheville, where one of my friends has a house. We decided to go hiking, and he fell down an embankment getting water, and then I tried to go down and help him and I fell, too. We were there for an hour or two before Louis came along and luckily heard me shouting.”

“Louis,” Savannah turned to him, “you’re a teacher in a really interesting position. How did that help you in rescuing Harry?”

“Well, Savannah, I’m an instructor in an outdoor education center, where I teach hiking and camping skills, and I’m a Wilderness First Responder, so that medical and emergency training was really vital in helping Harry and Chris. I was able to use the supplies we had out on the trail with us to assess both of their conditions and to splint Harry’s leg.”

“Oh, wow.” Savannah’s eyes widened. “Harry, I remember reading that when the accident happened, you didn’t have any cell phone reception. How did the two of you end up getting help?”

Louis leaned forward. “I carry a satellite communication device with me whenever I hike in areas where cell reception can be spotty, so we were able to contact search and rescue and they then evacuated Chris by helicopter, and Harry by hiking down carrying a stretcher.”

“Harry, I can see that you’re up and about now, with a boot on.”

“Yeah, I was lucky and I only had a fracture, so it’s the boot for me for the next while.”

Al Roker piped in. “Louis, you’re a hiking instructor. Is there anything Harry could have done to help him in this situation? Any supplies he could have had that would have helped him if you hadn’t come along?”

“Sure, Al,” Louis said. “In hiking, we have what are called the Ten Essentials. They’re things that you can use in an emergency situation, if you’re injured or end up stuck on the trail. For day hikes, I typically keep all these things in my backpack so I can just grab them and go.”

“Can you give us a quick run-down?” He turned to look at the camera. “A list of the Ten Essentials, along with additional information, will be posted on the Today Show website.”

Louis held up his hands to tick off the list. Luckily, they were also listed on a large poster being held up by a production assistant, in case he forgot any under the pressure of the cameras.

“Well, you always need navigation tools, at least a map and compass. Headlamp, sun protection, and a basic first aid kit. A knife, fire— matches or a lighter— and shelter. Then you’ll need some food, extra water or a way to treat water, and extra clothes. Now, this isn’t one of the essentials, but a way to communicate, like my satellite phone, can be vital. And lastly— it’s not something you take with you, but it’s vital to let someone know what route you’re taking and when you expect to return. At the very least, leave that information in your car at the trailhead, in case something happens.”

He smiled. “I always tell my students, I know it seems like a lot, but none of it takes up too much space, and if you need it, you’ll be grateful you had the foresight to pack it.”

Savannah leaned forward a bit. “And how many of those essentials did you use in treating Harry?”

“Most of them, to be honest. Probably seven of the ten, and I’d have used all of them had we had to stay out there overnight, which certainly can happen in situations where you’re somewhere more remote, or if I’d had no way to communicate and had had to hike back out to go get help. If Harry and Chris needed to stay overnight, they could have used a lot of those supplies.”

“All great tips, and clearly information that can save lives.” Savannah smiled. “Harry, Louis, thank you so much for being here today and speaking with us. If you’d like more information about hiking safety, you can visit the Today Show website.”

Then they cut to commercial, and the same production assistant from before was hustling them off the stage.

Soon enough they were safely tucked away in Harry’s dressing room, as he’d dragged Louis along with him.

“So, how terrifying was it?” Harry had the knowing grin of someone who’d been interviewed hundreds of times, and who clearly expected Louis to be shaking in his boots.

“Okay, so it was completely horrible at first, and then when I started talking, it was like any other time that I’m talking in front of students. So not nearly as awful as I thought, I guess? Ask me tonight after I’ve had to banter with Jimmy Fallon, and then we’ll see.”

Harry laughed, a sharp barking sound. “Well, we have to head over there for taping in a couple of hours. Do you want to grab something to eat before we go?”

And Louis did, of course. Harry was sweet and charming and kind to everyone he met, and had the prettiest face Louis had seen in his entire life, and he’d been so accommodating to Louis, and there’s no way that someone like Harry really wanted to spend the rest of his morning with a hiking teacher. 

So he said the stupidest thing he’d ever said before. “Um, no, I think I might just meet you there? Like, maybe your manager could give me the address and I’ll catch a cab or take the subway? I’d like to do a little more exploring while I’m here.”

Harry’s face fell, minutely, before his eyes widened in glee. “I’ll come with you! I love exploring New York, and I feel like I’m never here long enough as it is. Where do you want to go?”

It wasn’t like Louis had had any sort of plan when he said he wanted to explore, so he just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “The museum…?”

“Yes! We’re like three blocks from MOMA, and I have a membership! We can walk. Come on, let me tell Jeff and then we can just walk back when it’s time to film!”

Louis didn’t mean to be contrary, honestly, but he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Is it a good idea for you to just be walking around the city? Like with your boot and your face and all?”

“Heeeyyy,” Harry had a look on his face like a grumpy owl. “I walk around the city all the time, and my doctor said that as long as I take it easy, I’m good.” He paused, and then his expression brightened. “And The Halal Guys cart is on the way there! Do you like falafel?”

Louis had to concede that he did like falafel, and so fifteen minutes later found himself on a wall outside MOMA, sharing a beef gyro and a side of falafel with a rockstar, and arguing over who would get the first bite of baklava. 

With their (very early) lunch over, Harry hustled him into the front door of the museum and up to the desk, where a sweet-looking elderly woman greeted them with a cheery smile, asking how she could help them.

“Hi, I’m a member, but I wasn’t expecting to come to the museum today and I’ve left my card at home. Is there any way that you can look me up?” Harry pulled his ID from his wallet and passed it to her. 

After a few moments, she had his information pulled up. “Yes, Mr. Styles, I see that you have a Benefactor membership, and so your guest’s admission is included today as well. Since you visited in April, a new exhibit has opened on the second floor, so you’ll want to visit that if you have the chance. I hope you enjoy your visit today. Will you need a map?”

Louis nodded, and the woman passed one to him. 

Harry appointed himself the museum guide, and after asking Louis if there was anything in particular he wanted to see, led them to the elevator so that they could start on the top floor, which he claimed was the best way to start in any museum.

Two floors in and Louis could see that Harry’s foot was bothering him, and he could also see that there was absolutely no way that Harry was going to admit that. He wasn’t proud, but he decided to do just what he’d do if a student were in this situation, and come up with a clever ruse.

“Hey. Psssst, hey, Harry?”

“Louis,” Harry looked a bit confused, “why are you whispering?”

“Do you think that if I dropped something random from my pocket near a wall, people would think it was art and stop and look at it? Like if I was really subtle about it and no one knew it was me?”

When Harry muffled a laugh, Louis knew that he had him. “Go sit over on that bench in the middle and let me do my work. Then I’ll come back and we’ll watch and see what people do.”

So Harry hobbled off to the bench, going a little slower than he had this morning, and Louis dug around in his pocket to see what he had in there. Gum wrapper, wallet, receipt, a bobby pin one of his colleagues had asked him to hold on to, and that was about it. Everything but the wallet, then. He scurried over to the wall, made a little pile of the items, and stepped back about three feet, making sure no one had seen him, before bending a little at the waist as though to examine the pile. He made a humming sound in his throat, as though he was considering a painting, and he could have sworn he heard a giggle behind him. He gave the pile another few seconds of intense scrutiny before turning and heading back to the bench, where Harry looked to be in a fit of laughter that he was trying to hide.

They didn’t have to wait long before someone noticed the pile on the floor. A man in a tweed sport coat and round-framed blue glasses stopped by it and pointed it out to his partner, who began looking around for a sign on the wall, describing the piece. When she didn’t see one, she continued on through the gallery, but over the course of fifteen minutes, their pile of objects drew in at least thirty people, and Harry and Louis were nearly in hysterics. 

It was only when Harry’s phone buzzed with a text that their attention was drawn away. 

“Ugh, it’s Jeff. He says that since we aren’t back yet, he’s sending a car and that we better be downstairs immediately.”

So Louis scooped up the pile of objects, shoved them in his pocket, and followed Harry out to the street.

Louis didn’t know when it had happened, but sometime between when he and Harry arrived at the studio and when he was called back for hair and makeup, Harry had managed to tell Jimmy Fallon about their pile of pocket trash, which Louis had discovered when Jimmy burst into the room and demanded the contents of his pockets. 

Apparently, Jimmy had decided to send an intern down to the MOMA with a sign to label their “artwork” and a phone to capture people’s reactions, and somehow this was now going to be a part of their segment.

Louis’s mother was going to be so embarrassed when she saw this, but he almost couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d never imagined that he could have such fun doing such ordinary, silly things with Harry, but spending time with him just felt so easy.

Just then, Harry poked his head into the room, and Louis could see that his hair and makeup had been done already. He was waving his phone around and beckoning Louis over to him. Louis shrugged his shoulders and pointed toward the makeup artist. 

Once he realized that Louis wasn’t going anywhere, Harry pulled up a chair and handed his phone to Louis, who saw that Harry’s Instagram was open to a picture of their pile of trash, posted by a profile called momaartpile. 

“Do you have Instagram? I’m about to like this, and you should like it first since it was your idea.”

So Louis pulled out his phone, opened up Instagram, and liked the photo. Almost immediately, a whole lot of things happened all at once. First, Harry liked the picture. Then he followed Louis, and then he said, “I just followed you, so if you don’t want a whole lot of new followers, you might want to go on private now”

“Oh my god, Harry,” Louis said. “Did you make an Instagram for our pile of trash so that you could trick me into letting you follow me?”

Harry managed to look both abashed and pleased with himself. “I mean, I technically didn’t make the profile, but I did use it to get your username so I could follow you. Louist91? I never would have found you on my own.” 

He started scrolling. “Oooh, is that your dog? He’s so fluffy!”

“Yeah, he’s a giant fur ball, you’d love him if you met him.”

Harry grinned and made a little humming sound under his breath. Louis could see him scrolling and every so often, double tapping a picture.

“Are you seriously liking all of my pictures?”

“No, not all of them.” He looked up at Louis. “Just Clifford, the picture of a meadow with all the flowers, that one of your family at Christmas, and the picture of you running shirtless on the beach.” He then looked back down and kept scrolling.

“Oh my god. Your management is going to murder you for liking that picture, and then me for being shirtless in it. Quick, go unlike it before anyone notices.”

Harry grinned. “Yeah, too late for that. You should go look at it now though.”

And Louis remembered posting that picture a month ago. Up till today, exactly five people had liked it— four of his mates, an ex from his uni years, and, embarrassingly, his mum. Now, there were about two hundred likes, and Harry looked entirely too pleased with himself. 

“If you don’t want people to follow you, I really can unfollow and you can go on private. I don’t want to make you feel like your privacy has been invaded, you know? I’m sorry, I should have asked first, I don’t know why I didn’t.”

He had a chagrined look on his face and Louis shouldn’t help but feel for him. How many times had he probably had to have this conversation with people who may or may not have been very receptive to it. 

He really felt for Harry, though. It couldn’t be easy to have all these people laser-focused on you, on everything you did.

“Nah, no worries. All my new followers are just going to have to deal with my upcoming series of posts on hiking safety and the importance of Leave No Trace principles.”

Harry smiled again, although it was a little bit watery. “What else are you going to post?”

“How to hike with a dog? How to start trail running? How to meet pop stars in the middle of the wilderness and worm your way into their lives and Instagrams?”

At that, Harry barked out a laugh, and Lous was inordinately pleased with himself that he’d caused it. He wanted to keep it going, wanted to see Harry keep on smiling because of things that he had said, and just as he was about to continue the banter, the makeup artist stepped back. 

“Okay, all done! If you just head out to the hall, the set’s right around the corner.”

Before he knew it, Louis and Harry were being swept onto the stage, for an interview entirely different than the one that morning at the Today show— more lighthearted, more joke-y. 

Somehow the momaartpile account had acquired quite a few followers since Harry had shown it to him, and Carrie, the intern who’d gone down to the MOMA, had interviewed several patrons to ask them about the art pile, so the show cut between those and Harry and Louis to see their reactions.

Harry, of course, took a moment to plug MOMA. “I absolutely don’t want anyone to think we’re making fun of MOMA or any of the artists whose work is shown there. To be honest, I think Louis suggested it so that I’d have to sit down and get off my foot. If you ever have a chance to visit MOMA or any of the other museums in New York, you won’t regret it!”

Then Jimmy switched topics to talk a bit about how Louis had rescued Harry and Chris, somehow managing to tease Harry about how woefully unprepared he’d been for the hike while not making him seem foolish. 

Harry leaned forward, smiling sheepishly. “I mean, I definitely wasn’t prepared, and of course I feel terrible that I had to use the resources of the search and rescue team— who were all wonderful, by the way, and I can’t say how much I thank them. But if I hadn’t been out there, I’d never have gotten the chance to meet Louis.”

Jimmy cackled. “Two weeks after you meet in the woods, and you’ve already got a shared art Instagram. I can only imagine what comes next.”

“Well,” Louis said, “it’s confidential, but we are already engaged.”

“And there you have it,” Jimmy turned to face the crowd. “If you want to marry a pop star, all you have to do is rescue them from the woods.”

Just like that, the interview was over. 

Louis expected that now, with his interviews over he’d have the rest of the day free and then tomorrow morning to explore before his flight in the afternoon. But then Harry was crowding into his space, and Louis found himself accepting an invitation to go to Harry’s for pizza.

“I’d love it if we could go out for pizza and then walk around, but I think I’ve probably overextended myself today. Hope you don’t mind.”

“No, no, this sounds like fun. Is it okay if I head back to my hotel first so I can change into sweats or something first?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, no problem. I can send a car to take you there and then bring you to mine? If you want?”

And honestly, Louis knew he could take a cab, but something about letting Harry do this for him just felt good. He was sure that he was imagining it, but it felt like Harry was taking care of him, even if it was just in thanks for saving his life.


	4. Chapter 4

Louis had been back at camp for nearly a week when Oli finally cornered him to hear about his trip. He told him about the filming, about going out to eat with Harry, going to the museum, but he couldn’t bring himself to share about going to Harry’s apartment. It wasn’t like anything had happened, aside from him falling asleep on Harry’s shoulder until Harry had shaken him awake around midnight and sent him back to the hotel so that he could get a decent night’s sleep before his day of travel. Harry had had meetings the next day, so they’d had to say goodbye that night.

Truthfully, he’d hoped that Harry might get in touch with him, and he’d sent a text when he arrived back in North Carolina, thanking Harry for all his hospitality in New York.

He’d gotten a text back, a brief but enthusiastic, “I had fun!!!! Thanks!!!” but nothing after that.  
So it seemed like Louis had imagined that they had any kind of connection, and mentioning that to Oli would make the raw wound really hurt.

The school year started back after summer vacation, and Louis was getting back into the swing of things. The groups who visited over the past few weeks had all been really enthusiastic, especially once someone in their groups had pointed out that Louis had been on television, talking about hiking safety. 

It seemed that when he actually had a dramatic rescue story to tell, and one involving a famous person, the students really saw the usefulness of what he was teaching them. The elementary students, of course, were just as excited as ever, but it was the high school students who were really impressed. Louis had just managed to stop one girl, last week, from tumbling down a small hill, and judging from the giggling that she and her friends were doing afterward, he suspected that it might have been purposeful. 

Their schedule felt busier than ever, and it was a good thing, because it might have been the only thing keeping him from moping around over the fact that Harry had seemingly forgotten that Louis had ever existed. 

Not that he’d completely forgotten, of course. He still liked the pictures Louis posted every few days on Instagram. Finally, his friends were so sick of Louis’s longing glances at his phone that they gave him an ultimatum— stop whining and contact Harry, or they’d do something truly embarrassing, and they wouldn’t tell him in advance what it would be. 

As Louis could only imagine what they’d come up with, it was best to just give in. So on Saturday morning, he crafted an Instagram post showcasing the ten essentials and tagged Harry in it.

Almost immediately, he got a DM from Harry saying, “I’ve learned something!” and saw that Harry had also made a new post and tagged him in it as well. 

When he clicked over to it, he saw Harry, smiling widely on a trail, backpack on his back. The caption read, “I finally learned something! @louist91 #10essentials #thebootisgone. 

**Hi Harry! Glad to see youre back in the great outdoors. I think the kids are way more impressed with me now**

_Haha, don’t kid yourself, they were impressed with you before, I know it_

**I mean, maybe, but I think this one girl tried to purposely injure herself so that I could rescue her so I think it may be a little different now**

_I get that though_

**??**

_If you were my hiking instructor I would almost definitely do the same thing_

**You would not**

_I definitely would_

**So now you’ve gone from almost definitely to definitely definitely?**

_Absolutely, this is a definitely definitely situation. You’re obviously the cute instructor at camp_

**Ha! That’s a good one, but my friend Luke is 100% the cute one, i’ve heard the campers talking about it when they don’t know anyone’s listening**

_I’m sure he’s great and all, but you’re the cute one and i won’t hear a word otherwise_

**You’re very sweet Harold, but if you saw Luke you would change your mind**

They bantered back and forth for most of the day, only pausing during the short run he and Oli went on that afternoon. 

Louis was certain, when he woke the next morning, that the conversation would have died down, but instead, Harry had sent him a series of questions about life at camp and the ins and outs of dog ownership.

And so it continued over the next few weeks, never more than a day between conversations, but they never switched over to text, even though it would have been a lot more convenient. Louis thought that Harry might feel that was a bit too personal, so he never asked.

So it was a real surprise when he walked into his cabin one Friday afternoon after that week’s group had left to find a phone full of text messages.

_Hi Louis!_

_This is Harry_

_Styles_

_Sorry, I didn’t know if you still had my number_

_Anyway, I have a concert coming up near you and I was wondering if you and your friends want to come_

_It’s on Saturday night two weeks from now at the Orange Peel in Asheville_

_If you’re interested, I can leave tickets at Will Call for you_

_Come early if you can and then you can hang out backstage with us_

_I really hope you can come_

_Maybe we can go out to eat after. I hear there are some really good places_

_Have you ever heard of Rhubarb?_

Louis snorted. He had, in fact, heard of Rhubarb. One Friday night, he and Calvin and Oli had been waiting in Pack Square for a friend and he swore that everyone who walked by was talking about Rhubarb, just a chorus of people saying “Rhubarb! Rhubarb! Rhubarb!” like they were seagulls.

He turned back to his phone to read the rest of the messages.

_Anyway, just let me know_

_I know you’re probably busy with classes, hope I hear from you soon_

Well, he might as well go find Calvin and Oli and Luke to see if they were interested in going to this show with him. He had a strange feeling that while they might not normally be interested, they would be now that they be itching to meet Harry. 

Just as he suspected, when he mentioned the concert at supper, his friends lost their minds. Oli began cackling like a hyena, so loudly that it startled Clifford, who went to hide behind a chair, and Calvin began making not-so-subtle kissing sounds under his breath. Luke managed to keep it together, and Louis was just about to commend him for his maturity, when he dived for Louis’s phone, ran across the room, and began frantically typing.

Louis ran after him, but he managed to throw himself behind a table, then reading out what he was typing, pausing after each message he sent. “Hi Harry… it’s great to hear from you… my friends and I would love to come to your show… I don’t think they’ll be able to go out to eat afterward… but I’d love to… can’t wait to see you… xx…”

“Oh dear God, you guys are such babies, I can’t believe you. I honestly can’t believe that you’re allowed to be in charge of children.”

None of them looked remotely abashed, and Luke just handed Louis’s phone back to him with a blasé, “Harry just texted you back.”

And Louis didn’t snatch the phone back from him as quickly as possible so that he could read the text. That would be silly and immature, and unlike his friends, Louis was none of those things. He was matured and dignified, and he didn’t snatch things. He just took the phone quickly so that Luke didn’t have time to do any more damage.

“What’s it say?” Calvin called out, and Louis almost wanted not to tell them, just leave them wondering, but he knew they’d never leave him alone until he shared.

“He says that he’s really excited and he can’t wait to see if you guys are as dumb as I told him you were.” He chuckled as they began quibbling among themselves, and looked down at the message Harry had actually sent.

Can’t wait to see you! I’m so excited that you’re going to be able to make it! Thanks so much!!!! xoxoxo”

Normally, Louis might have just let them read it, or told them what it said, but for some reason, he wanted to keep this one close to his chest. He thought it was clear, after two months of mostly surface-level Instagram conversations, that Harry didn’t feel the same spark that Louis had, but this message still gave him a sort of a warm, fuzzy feeling, one that he wanted to keep to himself for now.

Knowing that Harry had thought of inviting him when he learned that he’d have a show in Asheville kept Louis going through what turned out to be a very cold, very wet two weeks.

Finally, on the Thursday before the concert, the weather broke, and the whole camp had turned out, even some of the teachers who didn’t have to be there, for the campfire at the pavilion. And it was there that Louis learned something that gave him pause.

He was responsible for getting everyone situated, and once he had, there was only one open spot by the fire, next to two of the other teachers, Jenn and Christy. And Jenn and Christy happened to be talking about Harry’s upcoming show, and how it had only been scheduled about two and a half weeks ago, and how they were lucky to have gotten tickets, because the Orange Peel was about a third of the capacity of the venues he normally played. 

Louis didn’t know what to make of that. There was even a small part of him that wondered if Harry had planned this concert as an excuse to see Louis, but he quickly dismissed that as completely out of the question. 

Obviously Harry was grateful to Louis for rescuing him, and he’d done his best to show Louis that. But it didn’t mean anything more, even if Louis wanted it to.

And then, of course, Jenn and Christy remembered that Louis knew Harry, and they tried to draw him into a conversation about whether he’d be going to the show, and what Harry was like in person, and the general merits of the Orange Peel as a venue. 

He didn’t really know what to make of it all, except that he could say for certain that the Orange Peel was an excellent venue, and that he didn’t know what kinds of sappy things he might end up saying about Harry if he hung around for the rest of the conversation.

He stood, squaring his shoulders, and excused himself to go visit the s’mores table. If nothing else, he could drown his confusion in gooey chocolate and marshmallows. After his fifth s’more, Calvin found him there and told him, in relatively child-friendly terms, to pull his head out of his ass and start getting psyched from Harry’s show, lest he make a bad impression.

So he did. He gathered a group of students to help him put out the fire and another to pack away the s’mores supplies in the pavilion’s bear-proof boxes. A third group did a sweep for any trash or bits of food that might have been dropped.

This was one of his favorite parts of the week, seeing the children working seamlessly together after a very busy and active trip. This overnight really was the distillation of everything they’d learned during the week, and he’d yet to have a trip where the kids didn’t have a great time.

Then it was off to bed before packing up and hiking back to camp tomorrow. Thank goodness it had finally stopped raining, which would make packing up tomorrow much easier.

**Saturday**

“Hello Asheville! Thank you for coming out to see me at The Orange Peel Social Aid and Pleasure Club— which is probably the best venue name I’ve ever heard. Thank you for welcoming me to your beautiful city! And speaking of beautiful, as you may have heard, I’m now completely free from my walking boot, and the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen was the one who rescued me. And he’s here tonight, at this show! Louis? Louis, where are you?”

Louis waved weakly from the back of the room, where he and his friends had staked out a spot at one of the tables circling the perimeter of the room.

“Louis!” Harry called, dimples in his cheeks and sounding like he hadn’t just seen Louis backstage before the show. “What are you doing all the way back there? I have a song for you, and I need you up here, front row.”

It seemed like every eye in the room was on him, and suddenly the crowd was parting a bit, with Harry on the stage gesturing them to form a path. There was nothing for Louis to do but head to the front.

When he got there, Harry beamed at him. “This is for Louis, this is a song called Sweet Creature.”

It wasn’t one that Louis had heard before, but he couldn’t believe how beautiful the song was, and how touching it was to have Harry dedicate a song to him.

As the song came to a close, the crowd clapped and cheered, and Harry was right back to the center of the stage, smiling at Louis once again. “This is a song that I used to sing with my wonderful friends. Lou, this one’s for you as well.”

The opening notes of “What Makes You Beautiful” rang out, and this was one that even Louis recognized from the radio. Harry was so animated, dancing around the stage like someone who had some control over his limbs, but only a bit.

And the pattern continued. After he finished each of his songs, Harry launched into a short dedication, and each time, that dedication was to Louis. He was a bit afraid that Harry would soon pull him on to the stage and start serenading him. Just as the thought crossed his mind, Harry ended a song and said, “This is another song. It’s not for Louis. This is Kiwi!”

The crowd went wilder than they’d been all night as Harry struck a dramatic pose. Listening to the lyrics, Louis could see why this one hadn’t been dedicated to him, but he was surprised at how much he liked it. When Harry had said that he’d been in a boy band, one that had been put together on the X-Factor, Louis had assumed that he probably wouldn’t like any of their music, but it seemed that Harry was full of surprises.

Once Harry had played the song through three— three— times, he bowed and ran off stage.

Louis had just made it back to his friends when one of Harry’s bodyguards came up and invited them backstage again. Harry had already changed by the time they got back, and somehow the vintage t-shirt and wide legged corduroys suited him just as much as the elaborate suit from the show, or the running clothes he’d been wearing when Louis first met him.

“Hey Louis! Thanks so much for coming!” He gave Louis a lingering hug and then waved to his friends. “Calvin, Oli, and Luke, right? Thanks for coming, it’s really nice to meet Louis’s friends.”

They all returned the greeting, and then Calvin spoke up. “Harry, thanks for inviting us. We all have some preparation to do before classes next week, but Louis told us how much he was long forward to catching up with you, so I think we’re going to duck out.” He turned to Louis. “You two have fun, now!” And then they were gone.

Harry looked a bit confused. “Do you need to go, too? Like so you can get back to camp?”

Louis snorted. “Harry, they’re lying. They’re just trying to get us alone together. I guarantee that if we went bar-hopping, we’d see them out at one of the bars.”

At that, Harry brightened. “Oh! Is that okay with you?”

“Of course, that sounds great.”

“Good,” Harry replied, “because I booked the private room at Rhubarb for after the show, and since your text said they couldn’t come, I was hoping it would just be us. Do I need to call a car?”

“What? Oh, no, it’s on this road, about a five minute walk from here, if you and your foot are up for it.”

Harry said that he was, and they set off up Biltmore Avenue, after being careful that no fans saw them leave, and with Harry’s bodyguard, Tim, trailing behind them. 

Harry was delighted by all the shops they passed, telling Louis about how he rarely got to do this kind of exploring on tour, and when he did, it was usually in much larger cities. He was especially intrigued by Mast General Store, and insisted that they go in for a quick detour on their way to Rhubarb. Five minutes later, he was the proud owner of two pairs of Christmas socks, a Mast Store Outfitters t-shirt, a shirt that read “Who needs therapy when you have bluegrass?,” still another shirt with an image of a goat wearing a flannel shirt and backpack, and four and a half pounds of candy from the store’s candy barrels, which he assured Louis would be shared among everyone who worked with him. 

Then it was on to Rhubarb. The private room had been set up beautifully, and Louis got the impression of a much larger room that had been divided, so that they were in a small, intimate section. Candles were flickering on the table and on the sideboard, and a wall of windows overlooked Pack Square. Harry pulled him over to the sideboard, and based on the amount of food already laid out—olives, pecans, preserves, a cheese board, a beautiful crudités platter, shrimp— the restaurant seemed to have believed that there would be about ten people joining them.

When Louis pointed this out, Harry laughed. “No, I just wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I told them to make one of everything. Hope that’s okay.”

“Oh, it definitely is, but I don’t see how we’ll possibly manage to eat all of this.”

A sheepish grin passed over Harry’s face. “Um, I don’t know how to tell you this, but these are just the cold snacks. They’ll start bringing the hot food in a few minutes, once we’re settled in.” 

He reached for the bottle sitting on the table. “Wine, Louis?”

Wine accepted, Louis set about filling his plate with food. Not too much, knowing that more was on the way. Then, with his plate in hand, he headed over to the table.

“So,” Harry said, taking a sip of wine. “What did you think of the show? I’m really glad you were able to come.”

Louis took a breath. “It was amazing. Like, I knew that you were a rock star, but I didn’t know that you were a rock star. Do you know what I mean? You’re electric on stage, nobody can take their eyes off you, it’s unbelievable.”

Harry’s shoulders just relaxed, as though he’d let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.  
“Really? Thanks, Louis. That means a lot, I can’t even say.”

“And your suit. That was the one you told me about on the trail, right? When you described it, I have to be honest, I didn’t think anyone could pull it off, but you actually looked amazing.”

There were those damn dimples again. Louis couldn’t begin to explain how weak he was for them.

“Really, Louis, I’m so glad you’re here. This is really nice.”

Louis raised his glass in thanks, and for a few minutes, they ate in silence.

Then, shortly after a waiter brought an array of hot appetizers— including the most amazing pimiento cheese hushpuppies— Harry spoke up. “Louis, I have something I need to tell you.” 

He looked nervous, and Louis’s stomach dropped. He’d known that his feelings for Harry were obvious, and he’d made him uncomfortable, and Harry was probably about to tell him thanks for the rescue, but Louis’s feelings made it too awkward, and—

“I have feelings for you.” And that was not what he’d expected Harry to say. “I know that you probably won’t believe me, and initially I even wondered if it was because you rescued me, but it’s not. It’s just, it’s you.”

“Harry,” Louis said, taking a moment to figure out what to say. “Are you out of your mind?”

Based on how Harry recoiled, that didn’t come out the way Louis had meant it. 

“Wait! Wait, that’s not what I meant. I mean, I’m a hiking instructor, and you’re you.” He waved his hand helplessly in Harry’s direction. “I don’t know how you could ever, I mean, you could do so much better.”

Harry reached for his hand, and Louis couldn’t help taking it. “I don’t want to do better. I don’t think I could do better.”

“Please don’t think I’m trying to talk you out of this, but have you really thought about this?” 

Why couldn’t Louis stop himself from talking? Why did he say stupid things?

But it didn’t matter, because Harry’s mouth quirked up at the corners, and he rubbed his thumb over the back of Louis’s hand, just a whisper of a movement. “Please tell me you’re joking. I organized an entire concert so that you’d come! Asheville was definitely not on the original schedule. I don’t know how you didn’t realize!”

Just like that, Louis felt his whole body relax. When Harry put it like that, he felt a little silly, but mostly he felt an overwhelming giddiness. Judging from the expression on Harry’s face, he was a little giddy himself. 

“Harry?”

“Yes?”

“Just so you know, I don’t put out on the first date, so I guess we’re going to have to stay here and enjoy the rest of this food.”

At that, Harry grinned. “Well, if you’re not putting out, at least there’s vegetable crostata.”

And that’s how, two hours later, Tim the bodyguard came back to find the two of them cuddled in the corner in a large armchair, talking about everything and nothing. “Okay, lovebirds, the restaurant is closing up, and Harry’s car is waiting outside. Louis, are you coming back to the hotel with us?”

After hearing Harry wax rhapsodic about the spa pools at the Grove Park Inn, pools that looked like they were in underground caves, there was no way that Louis was going to pass up his chance to stay there, and he told Harry so.

The whine that Harry let out was truly pathetic, and Louis almost felt bad for him. Almost.

“And obviously I’m dying to spend time with you, too.”

“That’s good, because I’ve booked us spa treatments for the whole morning tomorrow. Massages and facials and a foot treatment, and then the pools.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Do I even want to think about how much that cost?

“You absolutely don’t.” Harry chuckled. “It’s ridiculous, don’t even think about it.” 

The ride to the Grove Park Inn was short and a little awkward, because all Louis wanted to do was cuddle into Harry’s side, but with Tim and the driver there, he felt like he’d just embarrass himself. As if Harry could sense the unease felt, he threw his arm around Louis’s shoulder and tugged him gently over to his side.

Louis was pretty sure that Harry would pull away as they entered the hotel, trying to prevent anyone from seeing them, but walking through the lobby, Harry only pulled him closer, leading him to a bank of elevators and pressing the button for the club level. 

When they arrived at Harry’s room, Louis was certain that if he’d been anyone else, he’d have been stunned into silence. But he’d never been one to hold his tongue, and a “Shit, Harry,” slipped out.

Harry grinned at him. 

“Umm, you know that I share a cabin with three other guys, right? I mean, if you’re trying to impress me, you’ve done it and next time you can just get me McDonalds, you know?” 

He spun around, taking it all in. This suite was legitimately, from what he could see, bigger than his childhood home. The childhood home he’d shared with six other people. 

The grin on Harry’s face hadn’t faded. “Look, I can’t make any promises about whether or not I’m going to keep trying to spoil you, but this was completely necessary because I needed to woo you, and I get the impression that you might like a grand gesture.” He grabbed Louis’s hand and tugged him toward the kitchen. “Cocktail hour in the lounge down the hall has already ended for the night, but I can make you a drink. I think that the kitchen should be fully stocked. Or we could order room service.”

Louis tried. He really tried not to make a stupid expression at that suggestion, and honestly, he thought he came pretty close. “You know, that’s really sweet of you, but I think I ate and drank enough for about eight people tonight and I don’t know how I’m going to recover from that, let alone drink another drink.”

Then Harry barked out a laugh. “You really are easy to please, aren’t you? What about a cup of tea and we grab some blankets and sit out on the balcony?”

That sounded like a plan, and before long, they were laughing over the lengths Harry had gone to to impress Louis. 

“I mean, honestly, Harry, you rented out an entire floor of the restaurant. I think people normally have entire weddings there. You ordered the entire menu. And I think you may have actually been serious about planning the concert so I would come.”

Harry just blinked and nodded. “Yeah, that’s definitely true. I also thought about renting out the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, but Niall and Liam told me that was too much.”

“At that point, I might have actually thought you were trying to kill me with food.” Louis let out a little chuckle.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate it. Don’t get me wrong at all. It’s just that when we met, I was carrying everything I’d need for a week on my back, and like half of the food I was taking was instant ramen and Snickers. I loved the meal you arranged for us, and obviously I’ll accept gourmet chocolate any time, but I don’t need it. I’m genuinely the easiest person to please.”

Harry’s face grew soft at that. “You know, that’s a big part of why I like you so much. You’re so laid back and down-to-earth, and it’s like nothing ever ruffles you. You just go with the flow. Like who else could find two guys in the woods and act like it was just something that happens every day?”

“Did you know that I was absolutely terrified when I found you?” Louis put his mug down on the table between them. “I mean, I knew I had to stay calm so that you would too, but inside, I’ve never been so scared. When you went back to get your x-rays, I called my mum and I think I cried for about 20 minutes.”

“I’m sorry I scared you.” Harry’s face was the most serious Louis had ever seen it. “I’m sorry that I went hiking like it was just my normal city run, and that I put Chris in danger, but I keep wondering if it was all supposed to happen, because how else would you and I have ever met? Does that sound creepy of me?”

“No. No, love, not at all. Like, you’re not wishing for something bad to have happened, just thinking about how things all came together.”

He trailed off, and they let silence wash over them. It was comfortable, sitting here with Harry on a porch, drinking tea and chatting, and if Louis was honest, he could see himself doing the same thing fifty years from now.

“What if I bought a house near here? Would that be weird? Like too soon?”

“Like to live in?”

“No, you dope, just to have around. Of course to live in.”

“Like, as far as I’m concerned, it’s not too soon, but I don’t know what you think. And what are you going to do in Asheville? Like, don’t you have houses in L.A. and New York and London?”

He took a breath before continuing to speak. “And you know you don’t need my permission, right? Like you can just like the area— don’t let me tell you how to think.”

Harry shrugged. “I mean, I do have houses in other places, but it’s like, I just feel comfortable here, and I feel comfortable with you, and I think that it’s just something I feel like I really want to do. But I’ll only do it if you feel completely comfortable with it.”

“It’s just, I think we’re going to try dating— we are going to try dating, aren’t we?” When Louis nodded, the corner of his mouth quirked up and he continued. “And I’d really like a chance to get to know you even better. Not just like dropping in and out all the time, staying in a hotel. I want a home base and I want to get to know you even more, and I want to get to know this area even more, and I want to do it with you, if you want that.”

Louis nodded again, and then he had to ask. “What kind of place are you thinking of? Giant McMansion?”

“Nah, something small, cozy, maybe a little cabin or a cottage.” He reached over and took Louis’s hand. “Although it would be nice to have a little recording studio. Wish I could have done some recording when I was here the last time.”

“But you’ve been able to do some since then?”

“I have,” Harry responded. “But I just feel inspired here. It’s beautiful and serene and I feel like I could accomplish a lot.”

“You know, that’s exactly how I feel when I’m out hiking and stuff. Not songwriting or anything, but I always take out a notebook and just write about my day, the trail, the weather, the scenery, whatever comes to mind. It’s soothing, you know?”

Harry gave his hand a bit of a squeeze. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. There’s something about having that notebook and getting it all down on paper that’s so liberating. Like there’s nothing that’s preventing you from being completely honest.”

They slipped back into silence, Harry rubbing the back of Louis’s hand ever so slowly, just a whisper of a touch that made Louis ache inside, just a little.

Then Harry broke the silence. “Louis?”

“Yes?”

“I would really love to kiss you right now.” His voice shook a little and Louis was so, so endeared.

“Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“You should absolutely kiss me.” He stood and picked up his mug. “In fact, I’m going inside right now and we’re going to make out on the couch for at least the next hour or two.”

The smile on Harry’s face was visible through the darkness and Louis’s stomach gave a little swoop. 

Then they were stumbling in the door, scrambling like teenagers to the couch. Louis had only just put his mug down when Harry’s lips were on his, gentle and soft and somehow still kissing him with a fierce determination. 

They sank to the couch and Louis pulled Harry down so that he was hovering over him, propped on his forearms and smiling bemusedly.

“God, Louis. Oh my god, you are so gorgeous. You don’t even know.” He traced his lips across Louis’s cheek, down his jaw line, down, down to suck and bite at the spot where Louis’s neck and shoulder meet.

The feeling was overwhelming in the best way, and Louis thought—no, he knew— that kissing someone has never been like this before. 

He hooked a leg around Harry’s hip and hitched himself up a little, savoring the quick gasp Harry let out.

“I thought you didn’t put out on the first date.” There was a hint of teasing in Harry’s voice.

“Well, first of all, that was a lie. And also this is at least our third date, fourth if you count the concert separately, which I do, so that rule doesn’t even count and all I’m saying is that there’s an incredibly decent chance of me putting out tonight and I hope you’re okay with that.”

At first he thought that Harry’s shuddering breath was all the answer he’d be getting, and then Harry let out a sigh and said, “I’m so okay with that, you have no idea how okay with that I am.” 

He rucked Harry’s shirt up over his head, thanking his lucky stars that Harry had changed from the sparkly suit into a soft tee shirt. He had no idea what a suit like that cost, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was probably more than he made in a month, and if he tried to take it off, he’d hands down ending up tearing it and ruining it. And why, why was he thinking about a suit when Harry was there, with his tan expanse of chest right there?

So he pulled himself back into the moment and let his own shirt be pulled off. He was in good shape, he knew, from all the hiking and running and bouldering he did, but he’d never had anyone look at him the way Harry was right now. 

There was a fire in his eyes, but he was surprisingly gentle as he kissed across Louis’s chest, down his stomach. When he got to Louis’s belt, he stopped, looked up at him. “Lou, can I blow you?”

“God. God, yes, Harry, please.” 

And Harry’s hand moved to the button of his jeans. He took the fly down slowly, so slowly that Louis felt that his already overheated skin might burn with the wanting. And then, when he’d finally gotten Louis’s cock out, he just stopped and stared.

“Harry, I might actually die if I don’t have your mouth on me soon.”

Harry chuffed out a little laugh, and said, “Hold your horses, I was just admiring the view.”

Normally, Louis would make absolute fun of Harry for saying something like ‘hold your horses.’ He’d call him a grandpa and wait for him to puff up like an angry owl. But right now, all he wanted was Harry’s mouth on him. Harry must have known, because he lowered his head and gave the tip of Louis’s cock a kitten lick.

Louis couldn’t hold back a broken moan, not when he looked down and saw Harry, eyes dark with lust, take the tip in his mouth.

He swirled his tongue, then sank down a bit farther, at the same time wrapping his hand around the base. 

“Harry, oh my god—“ his words broke off with another moan, and Harry seemed to take this as a sign to keep going. He began to bob his head, taking Louis deeper and deeper, then pulling off a bit to lick and suckle at the head. 

He was at the edge of a precipice, just ready to fall over, but he wasn’t ready yet, not without Harry.

“Harry, Haz, wait a minute.” Harry stopped and looked up at him, confusion written on his face. 

“Come here, wanna come with you, wanna make you come.” He tugged Harry up toward him, their lips meeting in a sloppy kiss.

Then Harry broke the kiss, his lips just a whisper away from Louis’s. “Bed?”

“Yes,” Louis sighed against his lips, and then Harry was up, and somehow scooping Louis up, carrying him to the bed before dropping him, lightly in the middle and crawling up to capture his lips in another searing kiss. He rutted his hips against Louis’s, a quick and rough drag of corduroy across Louis’s naked and already overstimulated cock almost sending him over the edge.

He reached for Harry’s pants, unzipping them and tugging them down over his hips, never stopping kissing him. Then, mercifully, Harry’s cock was out, hard and wet at the tip with precome. He rutted his hips, lining his cock up with Harry’s, who took the hint and wrapped his hand around both of them, stroking with purpose, propelling them both closer and closer to the edge.

Every few strokes, he thumbed over Louis’s slit, using the precome there to smooth the glide of his hand. There was no sound but the slick slide of Harry’s hand over their cocks, and their quick, gasping breaths between kisses. 

Louis reached his hand down between them, drew a finger gently over Harry’s tip.

Then Harry’s hips stuttered, and he moaned out a breath as his cock pulsed over his fingers and Louis’s stomach. Louis’s orgasm hit him like a wave, and sent him following Harry over the edge. Harry jerked them both through it, his hand slowing as the pulsing stopped. 

“Harry,” Louis breathed out like a prayer. “That was amazing.”

“It was.” He could hear the smile in Harry’s voice. “I know I need to go get a washcloth and clean us up, but I just want to lay here with you. Like forever, if possible.”

Louis chuckled. “That sounds wonderful, but eventually they’ll kick us out, I think.”

“Yeah,” Harry sighed and ran his hand down Louis’s stomach, tracing a finger down to his belly button. “But it would be fun while it lasted.”

“No doubt, love. I can think of plenty of things we can do before they kick us out, but they may have to wait for tomorrow. I think you’ve exhausted me, and I wasn’t even the one who put on an entire concert earlier.”

At that, Harry reached for his hand, twining their fingers together and maneuvering himself so that Louis was spooning him. 

“Love? It’s not that I don’t love being the big spoon, but you’re going to have to let me go long enough for me to get a washcloth.”

Harry grumbled, but he let go, and Louis made his trip to the bathroom as quick as possible, wiping his stomach with a damp cloth and bringing it back to swipe at Harry’s stomach before climbing back into the bed and pressing himself against Harry’s back.

“I never thought, honestly, that when we were messaging on Instagram all those months, that you’d ever really be interested in me.” It was awkward to admit, but Louis felt like he had to say it.

Harry only wiggled himself backward to press more firmly against Louis. “You keep saying that, but I don’t think you realize how wonderful you are. You’re brave, and you’re smart, and you’re funny, and athletic, and you love children, and you make me feel like you really listen to me.”

“I do. I love listening to you.”

“I know, and I feel like you’re one of the only people who really hears me. I can tell you what I’m thinking and I know that you’re listening and not judging, or thinking about how you can use what I’m telling you. You just hear me.”

And so, with Harry murmuring in his ear, whispering how Louis had inspired him so much, how much he’d written and recorded since they met, they drifted off to sleep.

**Two years later**

It had been a long two years of the media referring to them as hiking buddies—even when Louis spent the summers traveling with Harry on his tours, even after Harry finally came out and they were able to start holding hands in public, and when they started to spend time with each other’s families publicly— but here they were.

It was the day of their wedding, which after much debate they’d agreed to host on the property they’d bought the previous year. 

It turned out that as much as Harry had said that he wanted a little cabin in the woods, what he really wanted was the chance to choose a home with Louis, and they’d both agreed that buying a house together after only a few months was, all in all, probably not a good idea.

So Harry had rented an apartment in downtown Asheville, one that gave him a chance to easily drop in on breaks from his tour, and to explore the city and allowed him to meet up with Louis for a quick hike a couple of afternoons a week, on the days Louis had free time.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, his tour was over, and he’d decided that he could now take his time with the next album— he could take a couple of years to write and record it, and in the meantime, they could look for a house.

They were fortunate to find exactly what they were looking for with just the second house they went to see. It was several hundred acres, with a cute little farmhouse, a greenhouse, and a couple of buildings that might be able to be renovated for use as a studio. Most importantly, it was actually closer to the camp than Harry’s apartment had been, and the previous owners had tramped down a series of trails on the property that Louis had been dying to use since the second he saw them. 

Louis dragged himself out of his house-related nostalgia. The wedding planner had sent Harry’s bandmate, Liam, in with his boutonniere—probably because she’d sensed that she shouldn’t trust any of Louis’s friends with the task. It was the finishing touch on his outfit before he’d make his way out of the house and across the lawn to the pavilion Harry had insisted they build after seeing the one at the camp.

“Louis?”

“Yeah?”

“I hope this isn’t too sappy, but I’m so glad that Harry met you. He was so— not sad, but like, adrift?— before he met you, and now I’ve never seen him so happy, and I’m glad he has you.”

Louis felt as though there was something in his throat, and he couldn’t quite decide what to say, so he settled for giving Liam a hug and gesturing for them to head out to meet the rest of the wedding party downstairs so they could make their way to the ceremony.

He and Harry had decided that they’d walk from the house together, a symbol of walking into their new life with each other.

Harry was already downstairs, watching him as he walked down the stairs and looking just a bit teary when Louis first emerged. He reached out, brushed his hand across Louis’s cheek, and then joined their hands to walk to the ceremony.

It was overwhelming, really, to see everyone there— his younger siblings, who’d been spending as much time as possible visiting, now that he had somewhere to house them. His mum, and stepdad, and Anne and Robin and Des and Gemma, who’d accepted him with open arms from the moment they met him. Chris and Grace were there, too, and their daughter, who was just ten months old. All his mates and coworkers, and Harry’s musician friends, and it struck him, just knowing that everyone was there to support them when just two years ago, both of them had feared that this might never happen for them.

When they reached the makeshift altar they’d set up in the pavilion, Harry stood, beaming, in front of him, as Niall began the ceremony. 

Harry had initially balked when Niall offered to perform the ceremony, but somehow Louis had brought him around— something he’d regretted last night at the rehearsal dinner when Niall had insisted on speaking in a Christopher Walken voice for the entire practice. Harry had nearly had a meltdown, afraid that if he used the voice during the actual ceremony, they wouldn’t actually be legally married. Louis’d been able to convince him that if people could be legally married by Elvis impersonators, they could be legally married by a Christopher Walken impersonator, but Harry had remained on edge the rest of the night and through the morning.  
Luckily, Niall had pulled himself together today, and had managed to treat the ceremony with just the right amount of gravitas and light-heartedness. 

“Harry and Louis have written their own vows, which they will share before you today. Louis?”

“Harry, two years ago, when I set out on a backpacking trip, I’d originally planned to hike another trail. Right before I set out that morning, I remembered a trail I’d hiked the summer before, and I just changed my mind about where I was going to go. I don’t know what made me change my mind, but I feel like I was put in exactly that place at exactly that time because I was supposed to find you. For the past two years, you’ve been my rock, my best friend, my sounding board. I’m so lucky to have you by my side, and I’ll spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to make you happy.”

Harry looked a bit weepy, but when Niall called on him to recite his vows, his voice was strong and steady, and his eyes shone brightly.

“Louis, before I met you, I was lost, and I don’t just mean in the woods.” He grinned at Louis, his dimples showing, and there was a ripple of laughter from their guests. “I was so closed off—not able to come out, not able to truly be myself, not in public, and not even totally in private. I didn’t have a sense of purpose beyond what I was told to do, and I was losing sight of who I really was. And then you came into my life and you saved me in every way a person can be saved.” He paused a moment, clearly waiting for Louis’s reaction, and only love prevented Louis from groaning at the fact that his husband had used a Titanic quote in his wedding vows. “You helped me realize that I’m good enough, just as me. I don’t have to be someone else, I don’t have to hide, I can just be me, and you can just be you. I can’t wait to grow old with you and spend the rest of our lives being ourselves, together.”

Niall led them through the exchange of the rings, and finally—finally— pronounced them married, and Louis thought his face might split in two from smiling. 

Then it was a flurry of dancing, congratulations, watching Harry interact with all of his younger siblings. At one point, about eight guitars were brought out all at once, and Harry was dragged into an impromptu performance, during which he took great pains to say, “These songs are all dedicated to my husband.”

Later that night, after they’d snuck away from the party to huddle under a blanket by the fire pit Harry had insisted they could build in an afternoon, but which actually took them a whole two weekends, Harry wrapped his arms around Louis. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’ll never stop being grateful for it.”

Louis settled back in his arms with a sigh. “I love you, too, you goof. You ready?”

Harry nodded and pulled out his phone to snap a picture of their entwined hands and wedding bands. He tapped out a caption: “Anywhere you stand is my piece of land. You are my home.” 

Then he turned the phone toward Louis and let him press send.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Remember to stay safe when you go out hiking-- the Ten Essentials really are essential! 
> 
> If you enjoyed this fic, you can reblog the Tumblr post [here.](https://et-y-etc.tumblr.com/post/615686470153486336/walls-are-walls/)


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